Pokémon: Storm
by psychopath556
Summary: A Pokémon fan from our world has ended up getting dropped into the world of Kanto region, just as the story is set to begin. What will he do? Become a Pokémon trainer of course, and put all others to shame with his years of knowledge gained from the video games and anime series, he will become the best trainer he can be and take the Pokémon world by Storm. Rated T for now.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey all, I've been saying I was going to do this for a while now so here it is, my first serious Pokémon Fanfiction, Pokémon: Storm, I hope you all enjoy it, I've had it in the works for ages now but because of personal reasons and writers block I've found myself putting it on hold along with all my other fics, but you can rest assured that I'm back in the right mindset now and that my updates will be coming faster than they have before.**

**Now just a quick note, I loved the Pokémon anime as a kid, and I still watch it from time to time. But now as an adult with a more serious mind, I can't help but watch the first few seasons and wince from Ash's character and personality, so yeah, expect my OC to be of a similar mindset when it comes to Ash.**

**I've taken some liberties with the Pokémon world, such as the trainer age now being a few years older because to me it's just a bit hard to justify sending ten-year-olds out to explore the world. Plus I eventually intend to have my OC be in relationships with some of the characters and having him and them as kids would just be wrong in my book.**

**Also, there is an announcement at the end of the chapter please take a read once you're done. So without further ado, here is chapter one, of my newest fanfiction.**

* * *

**Chapter one-**

**The calm before the storm**

I knew something was going to happen, I just didn't know what. Last night when I went to sleep, I had been feeling strange all day. You know those kinds of feelings you get when you know something is coming you just don't know what like a storm is about to hit you can feel the pressure in the air? Well it was like that only I couldn't tell why. The sky was clear and everything seemed normal. So I went to bed thinking nothing of it. Only now I wake up and find myself looking at an unfamiliar ceiling and with a pounding headache.

With a groan I sit up not knowing where I was, but as my eyes adjusted to the light I found myself looking at things that didn't make sense. The room I was in had steel blue tiled floors with yellowish cream coloured walls. The ceiling was curved in an ark and was made of large brown tinted glass windows.

I looked to what I was lying on and found myself lying on a tanned coloured sofa. Looking around the room I could see different things, the room was filled with multiple different types of lab equipment none of which I could tell what it does.

With a groan I put my hand to my head, it was still pounding, but as I did my eyes widened as I looked at my hand. It was different, younger, looking around for a reflective surface my eyes widened as I saw my reflection in one of the glass monitors.

Before I had gone to sleep I was a twenty-two-year-old male, standing at just over six foot, but what I saw in the reflection was something I hadn't seen in years, my younger self. I didn't look much older than fifteen or sixteen and I had to blink seeing my hair again. I had apparently retained my style from back then cause I had hair just down past the base of my neck but it was held back by a hair band to keep it from going over my face, something I had used to do, before I had gotten it cut after I left high school for college. I had never let it grow that long again. I had kind of missed it.

But none of this was making any sense. Looking around I couldn't figure out where I was. Looking to the large windows I quickly move to them to see if I could spot any landmarks to figure out where I was, but my eyes widened when I got to them when I saw something I never in my life believed I'd ever seeing. Before me was a wide open grass plain with trees and ponds dotted throughout but it was what was in living there that shocked me, creatures that I had never imagined I'd see in my life, Pokémon.

I had spent my childhood watching the anime and playing the multitude of games. I had loved it growing up and outside this window, there were actual Pokémon. As far as I could see there were only those native to the Kanto region nothing past generation one of the series, but never did I imagine I'd see them.

Looking down at my hands again it suddenly dawned on me, and looking back at the room which was obviously a Lab I realised exactly where I was, Professor Oak's Laboratory in Pallet town. Somehow I had been transported to the Pokémon world, the Kanto region. I couldn't believe it.

Moving back to the sofa I sat down as I tried to think. Ok so I've been transported to the world of Pokémon, cool, nothing wrong with that. I know everything there is to know about Pokémon, or at least what I can remember. I kind of stopped following it after a certain point somewhere in black and white. I had played the games but never really gotten into the series at that point.

Now the question was. What was I going to do now? Why was I transported here, and more importantly, where was Professor Oak? He could walk in at any second and I don't know what the hell I'm going to say… well when in doubt go with the flow. I'm in this world so I may as well become a trainer. Hell I could be a champion with my knowledge, but the problem was how exactly I would do that? Last I checked the age of becoming a trainer was ten. I was a bit old even for that, but hopefully that wouldn't matter.

Now there was another problem. When exactly was I? Is this before, or after, Ash has started his journey? Is there even an Ash in this world or is this like the animated series with red and blue? God I hope not, that wasn't exactly the best series. It was alright but rushed as hell. I guess that I'll just have to wait and see about that point.

Ok, so I'll become a trainer, if it's possible, and if this is a world with Ash I'll have to think on what exactly I'm going to do. If I take a starter Pokémon from here that might mess with the timeline and Ash might not get Pikachu, or I could, but that would mess with everything. No I'll have to see about another starter I'd rather not mess with things too much until I'm sure of things… but what am I going to say about my history?

I can't exactly say I'm from another world that would just be asking for trouble, and what about when people ask about my family and parents… no it's best just to say I'm an orphan and that I never knew who my parents where. As for where I live, well I could just say I travelled on my own and was making my way here to become a trainer. Not like anyone could call me a liar, but now the question is if this is the anime canon, do I want to follow along or go off on my own? The anime was never very good in the early days and never made sense with the later stuff. So maybe I'll jump about a bit no sense going through all the slow stuff.

But as I finished thinking I heard a door open from the balcony above me before a voice sounded, "Ah good you're awake, you had me worried there for a bit."

Looking up I tried to hide my shock seeing who it was, Professor Samuel Oak. He looked practically identical to the anime series. Looking to be in his late forties, with greying hair, he wore a red short-sleeved polo shirt and light brown trousers with a white lab coat over open that went down to his knees.

'Well here goes nothing,' "Um excuse me but where am I?" I asked doing my best to act younger again, I couldn't exactly act like I was in my twenties. It would seem odd.

Oak just smiled at me, "Well my lad, you're in my research laboratory. I found you passed out on the path this morning when I went to take my morning walk. My name is Professor Samuel Oak, Pokémon professor and researcher."

I blinked at that statement, 'So that's how I got here? I was passed out outside his lab and he brought me here', I rubbed my head sheepishly, "Ah sorry about that, I guess I must have skipped breakfast this morning." I said lying through my teeth and hoping he bought it, "I was so anxious to get here to ask if it was possible to become a Pokémon trainer it completely slipped my mind. I was a little worried cause I'm a bit over the starting age."

Oak seemed to chuckle at that, "Ah say no more, my boy. I know the feeling. I sometimes get so sucked up in my research I skip two or three meals before I finally get so hungry I end up devouring a meal fit for five." He laughed before clearing his throat, "Now as for you becoming a Pokémon trainer I don't see why we can't bend the rules a little, exactly how old are you."

I chuckled, "Sorry, My name's Mason Storm, and I'm sixteen."

Oak smiled, "Ah that shouldn't be a problem then Mason, you're only a year over the starting age, but if I may ask why you didn't come when you were fifteen like all the others do?"

I blinked, 'So the starting age is fifteen here, not ten? Well it does make more sense. I never did think sending ten year old kids out to journey the world was very sensible', "Um the thing is professor, I've been travelling alone since I was young. I'm an orphan and I never knew who my folks were. I've just been travelling from place to place as I grew up. I was trying to reach here before I grew over the age but I was a little late, I only just turned sixteen a few weeks ago."

Oak seemed to frown upon hearing that, "Oh I'm sorry to hear that my boy, but it at least sounds like you've lived an exciting life." he said starting to smile a bit, "Now, how about we get you some breakfast before we get you sorted as a Pokémon trainer." he said gesturing upstairs, "Your bag is up there if you go on up I'll be right up with some breakfast for you." he smiled kindly.

I blinked, 'My bag?' I thought before standing up, "Thank you professor" I returned in kind before I started up the stairs to the room.

Opening the door my eyes widened as I saw my backpack sitting on the sofa. I recognised it immediately, it was my Code ten backpack that I had ordered a few months ago after seeing the promotion video online, talk about a good piece of kit.

I quickly made my way over to it and opened it and my eyes widened, as I looked inside. All my tech was inside, my iPad, iPod, hard drives and my MacBook Pro. I couldn't help but fist pump the air. I knew I had all my Pokémon stuff on my hard drives, so even if I didn't remember half the stuff it would be on them. Plus I'd have all my music, can't be without all that. Looking at the other stuff I noted, there was a spare change of clothes and a couple bottles of water and energy bars.

'Odd I don't remember packing them in my bag, but they're good to have if I'm going to be travelling. I'll just have to make do until I can get some cash to buy some new kit,' I thought as I quickly rolled my bag up. I didn't want anyone seeing this it could make people ask questions, 'Real world technology in the Pokémon world? Great like that won't attract attention, I'll just have to be careful with it and not let anyone see, the tech in this region isn't exactly top of the line', I finished thinking as I closed the bag up fully, at least I won't have to worry about my kit getting wet, the bag was fully waterproof so even if I did end up getting soaked somehow the stuff would stay dry.

Then the door opened and the professor came in carrying a serving tray with a box of cereal a jar of milk, bowl and spoon, "Here we go my lad," he said setting the tray down. "Now why don't you go ahead and have something to eat and I'll just fill out your information for your Pokédex, shouldn't take but a minute." He said before going over to the computer to the side of the room.

I nodded and filled the bowl. It was some kind of corn flake like cereal, I didn't really mind, food was food. I just filled the bowl and added milk before I started eating. I spent the next five minutes answering questions as I ate my breakfast as the professor typed up my information before the professor spoke again.

"Alright that should do it," he said before hitting a final button before I heard the machine beside the computed hum to life before a side slot on its front opened up and a tray came out with what I recognised as a generation one, Kanto region Pokédex, "There we are," he said lifting the Pokédex and bringing it over to me just as I set my bowl down to reach out for it taking the small device in my hand.

"That Pokédex has all your information on it. You can use it for identification and to record or check any Pokémon you come across," the professor explained as I nodded and open the Pokédex and see the front camera spin for a moment before the screen came on. A picture of me appeared on it before it shrinks on the screen and my details come up from my age, date of birth, it had my birth town listed as pallet seeing as I said I didn't know where I was born, my height and weight, all my physical descriptions that matched the picture there was of me on the screen. Seeing everything was in order, I closed it up.

"Alright then, now all that's left is for you to choose your starter Pokémon. You're in luck, I actually have a new batch of Pokémon fresh in. They were meant for a group of new trainers who should be starting their travels in about six weeks but I see no harm in letting you have one if you want." The professor offered with a hopeful smile.

I paused as I let that information sink in, 'so that probably means that Ash hasn't left pallet yet, and won't do for another six weeks, good. That means I have time', "actually professor I was hoping you might have something different, not that I have anything against the three your offering. Its just that if they already have people who'll be coming for them I don't want to take that opportunity away from them."

Oak smiled at me, "Ah I see. Yes I can understand that, and as it just so happens I do have something else. It's rather rare you see but this just might work, come with me" he said gesturing to a side room which I followed him into.

As the professor opened the door and stepped through I saw there on the table was a glass case and inside was a light blue egg with a white ring around it. I paused to look at it as the professor started explaining, "you see I got this egg from a college of mine. He theorizes that Pokémon are born from eggs and that this is one such egg. If you would do me the favour of looking after this egg I would let you have whatever Pokémon hatches out of it. After documenting it, of course, just to see a Pokémon hatch would be enough for me."

I smiled and nodded as I looked at the egg. This would be perfect, a newly hatched Pokémon would be awesome to start with. I'd be able to train it from scratch, speaking of training I wonder if the other generation moves can be learned early. I don't really see why not it would just take some working is all.

The professor clapped his hands, "Oh excellent I was hoping you'd agree. Now I have a small observation hut that you can stay in, just on the other side of the river outside. I use it for observing the wild Pokémon sometimes but I haven't had need of it in a while, but it has a heater a bed and power. So it should do just fine for you until the egg hatches. You can stay there as long as you like until you're ready to go. Seeing as you've nowhere else to stay."

I bowed to him in thanks, remembering that this world was modelled after Japanese culture, "thank you, professor"

I heard the professor laugh before he spoke, "think nothing of it Mason, my boy. You're doing me a service, it's the least I can do. Now lift the case and follow me I'll lead you to where you'll be staying"

Quickly standing up I moved to lift the case careful of the egg inside and moved to follow, picking up my bag as we left the room and headed out of the lab.

After a brisk fifteen minute walk down the road and across a small bride to the other side of the river. In a small layby area next to the river was a small wooden cabin with what looked to be a water wheel generator attached to its side with a wheel in the water. It wasn't extremely large but big enough to house two or three people comfortably.

"Here we are," the professor said as he opened the door, letting me see inside. There where two small single cots and both a stove and small iron furnace in the back connected to a water storage tank that looked to be fed into a small connected bathroom, so I'd have hot water for showers and such. There was also a small table and a couple of chairs and a fridge next to the stove, "it could do with a good sweep and dusting, but otherwise it's just fine. I hope it's alright"

I nodded, "it great, thank you, professor," I said as I walked over to the table to the side and set the egg case on it.

"That's good, why don't you get settled in. I'll be back in an hour or so with some groceries for you to keep yourself on, any preferences?" he asked smiling.

I paused for a moment, "not really, though if you could get some nice tea that would be fine."

Oak smiled, "Will do my boy, see you in a while." He said before closing the door leaving me to it.

I knelt down and looked at the small egg and smiled, "I hope you hatch soon, I can't wait to meet you this is going to be so exciting" I said before heading over to my bag and taking out my MacBook, "ok so in the meanwhile I think a refresher course in all things Pokémon is necessary," I said as I opened up my videos folder and started to watch the first season of the series on half screen while I have my note pad up to take notes and list things to check later.

* * *

**Time skip- four days.**

It had been four days since I woke up in the Kanto region. Though not much has changed in those four days if anything it's been stagnant as I wait for this egg to hatch. It's mid-morning right now and I'm sitting out on the porch of the watchers cabin with the egg out of its case on my lap as I wipe it down, I had seen clips of brock doing this in the anime so I figured that I should do it also in order to care for the egg while I wait.

I was waiting for professor Oak to come by, he'd been doing so regularly about two or three times a day to check in on me and the egg. I've even taken to preparing some of the tea each morning for us to share while he's here.

Each day that passed, I was getting more and more anxious. I had already refreshed my knowledge of the first generation of the series after speed watching it all in two days, and I have begun to plan out some things, but I couldn't do anything else until I knew what my egg was going to hatch into. I was sure it was either going to be a generation one or two. I was sure that the professor hadn't had any contact with the other regions yet. He hadn't mentioned them or even hinted at them in the first series but yet seemed to know of Togepi in the anime so that links in the second generation, or Johto region Pokémon as that's where Togepi came from. Though how it ended up in Kanto is a mystery to me.

I had narrowed down what it could possibly be because of the colour of the eggs' shell, but that still gave a few too many options so I was left to wait and see. As I sat there rubbing the egg I sighed. Never in my life did I ever think I'd find myself in this position but then again what kind of person would, I'd just have to make the most of it.

But then just as I was thinking that, I felt the egg wiggle in my grip. I blinked looking at it as it did it again, was this it? Then I heard the voice of professor oak calling.

"Good morning Mason, I trust everything is going fine," he called as he came walking up the path to the clearing.

I immediately looked to him, "professor come quickly, the egg, it shook," I called as the egg shook again.

The professor then quickly started over to me quickly just as the egg shook yet again, and he reached me just as it started to glow a bright white, "Oh my!" he exclaimed as we both covered our eyes to shield them from the rather bright light for the few seconds that it was, before it started to fade as the egg started to change shape.

As the light faded completely, I knew exactly what it was that was now lying in my lap. It was blue, a shade darker than the egg had been, with a small white snout with three-pronged white fins on either side of its head. It had a long blue serpent-like body covered in smooth blue skin and a white underbelly. It opened its big eyes to show its purple irises and blinked looking up at me, It was a Dratini.

"Amazing, simply astounding," Professor Oak said in a low voice still in shock, "so the egg was a Dratini egg. This proves that Pokémon do come from eggs, or at least Dratini dose. simply remarkable!"

I smiled as I looked down at the small dragon sitting on my lap before speaking in a low, gentle, voice, "Hi there"

The small dragon looked up at me with big eyes before it spoke, "Dra", I smiled back, "It's very nice to meet you, I'm Mason", "Dra! Dratini Dratini!" the small dragon cried happily. I smiled as I reached and rubbed its head.

Professor Oak laughed, "Well it seems as though you two are going to make good friends. It was rather lucky of you Mason, Dratini is a rare Pokémon. I only know of a few trainers who have them or their evolved forms. They're quite powerful when they grow older, but I can't imagine Dratini being much use in battle till its grown a bit. Maybe waiting a few weeks before you can start training would be best."

I nodded in agreement, "I agree, but for now I think a checkup is best to make sure it's healthy"

Professor Oak nodded, "good thinking my boy, come on then let's go inside." He said gesturing to the door as I stood up holding Dratini as we made our way inside.

* * *

**Time skip- three weeks**

It had been two weeks since Dratini had hatched, and I was laying on one of the cots in the watchers hut looking down at the sleeping dragon on my chest. In three weeks the little guy sure had grown a lot. After being born it was just under a meter in length and weighed a little under a one and a half kilograms, in two weeks it had grown drastically to just over one meter seventy and doubled its weight.

From the Pokédex app I had on my iPad that had my data on it, I could see that Dratini was near reaching the average measurements and weight for its species. It had also started to eat solid foods a couple of days ago and was now on a special blend of Poke-chow that Professor Oak was supplying me with while I learned how to make it from scratch, a skill that I had decided to learn as it would come in handy for my travels.

I knew it would be another three weeks before we would be setting out on our journey and I knew that I would have to begin Dratini's training soon. I didn't want to be going out with a baby Pokémon that wouldn't be able to battle.

To that extent I had taken to planning out a small exercise regimen for Dratini to try and strengthen him up somewhat, and prepare him for when I start him trying to learn some of his moves.

One thing that I had been thinking about for the past three weeks was Dratinis moves, and Pokémon moves in general. Given that the TMs are something only implemented in the video games, I'm thinking about how moves are actually taught and how they transfer from generation to generation. Like the first gen games and the fourth gen games, move pools had grown considerably as well as multiple type changes.

I kept thinking back to the few episodes there are in the anime, about how Pokémon were trained in certain ways to learn a move. Like people were trained to get better at things. It was clear to me that if the trainer had the right knowledge of moves and what Pokémon could learn them then it would make it so much easier, and that was where I would be at an advantage with the entire database out in front of me on my MacBook.

In generation one Dratini only learned seven moves total on its own, and then another twenty through TMs and HMs. While by the fourth generation that same move set was increased to thirteen, and then another thirty-three.

Looking at my screen I could see exactly what moves he could be taught and I was already formulating a plan of how exactly I was going to train the little guy as well as what moves I was going to teach him to give him the widest skills possible.

Looking down to Dratini I stroked his head with a smirk, 'Dratini, when I get through training you, you're going to be a powerhouse'

* * *

**Timeskip- eighteen days later**

I couldn't keep the grin off my face as I and Dratini lay outside in the clearing next to the river across from the watchers' hut. We had just finished with our evening training session and things were going great.

After two full weeks of regular exercise, Dratini was looking much stronger and I had decided it was time to try to see what moves Dratini already knew. I wasn't surprised when Dratini showed that it knew Wrap, leer, and Thunderwave, those were pretty basic moves.

I had started Dratini on the fourth generation move sets the day after, and for the past four days, we had been training hard to get the dragon type moves Twister and dragon rage into his move pool.

Twister had been going well, Dratini had been excited to learn and seemed to grasp it by the second day of training. Dragon rage, on the other hand, wasn't going so well. Not surprising given how powerful the move was, but I know with more training the little guy would be able to get it down with ease. For now, though we had been focusing on making twister more powerful so that we wouldn't be at a disadvantage in battle.

Things were starting to get exciting. It had only been the other day when Professor Oak had came by to visit with a surprise for me. A set of five Pokéballs, it was only three days until my journey began so he had decided to give them to me a little earlier so that I would have them before I set off. I had all five plus Dratini's Pokéball attached to my belt. It felt so surreal to have them there but I guess even after nearly six weeks in this world I still wasn't used to things.

My mind wondered as I sat up and looked out over the river as I thought of the life I had been living before this one, it seemed so boring. Five years in higher education courses to learn computing and the ins and outs of graphic design and motion design only to get out and find it next to impossible to get myself employed due to my lack of industry experience. I shook my head, who would have thought that this would have happened to me.

"Dra" Dratini's voice broke me from my thoughts as I felt him nudge my elbow with his head and I smirked.

"Sorry buddy, just lost in thought." I assured the little guy as I reached down and rubbed his head with a smirk before looking back out at the water surface, "won't be much longer, three days and we'll be heading out to begin our journey, we're going to blow them all away" I grinned

"Dra!" Dratini voiced in what I guessed was agreement, I'm still working on getting a read for the little guys' expressions and tones.

We just continued to sit there and look out over the water, the strong currents flowing gently tonight as the sun shimmered off its surface, it was rather peaceful. But as we continued to watch something seemed to make the water move against the current, in a ripple-like movement, as if something was coming up. and sure enough, something did with a small splash something broke the water's surface, a small blue ball with two eyes and a swirling circle on its front.

I had to blink for several moments before I recognised what I was looking at, A Poliwag. "Dra!" Dratini said in curiosity.

I smirked, "looks like we're about to have our first battle a little earlier than expected Dratini" I said as I stood up, watching the Poliwag closely not wanting it to get away, "you head that Poliwag, you're going to be our first opponent before our journey even begins, so how about it!" I declared to it, with a grin.

The small tadpole Pokémon eyed me and Dratini for a moment before a hard look crossed its rather cute face, an odd expression for such a cute Pokémon to have, before it literally shot out of the water and landed on the shore, "Poli" it said which I took for an acceptance to my challenge.

"Alright," I grinned and looked to Dratini, "ready to go, buddy?"

"Dra!" Was my partner's response as the small dragon Pokémon moved out in front of me to face his first opponent.

"That's the spirit, let's show this guy how hard we've been training!" I said with a grin, as I was already mentally going over Poliwag's move sets in my mind.

As I was the Poliwag decided to take the first attack and launched a spray of bubbles at Dratini and me, I smirked.

"blow those bubbles away with Twister!" I commanded and watched as Dratini raised its head up and let out a cry as energy began to flow out of it, as a light blue aura seemed to cover it. Seconds later the wind seemed to pick up and swirl instantly popping the bubbles that were coming towards us and carrying on catching the small Poliwag and throwing it sideways and into a tree just down the shore.

I smirked, "nice one Dratini, now get in there with wrap" I ordered while the smaller Pokémon was down and trying to get up.

Dratini gave a nod and rushed the small tadpole Pokémon and wrapped its length around it and began to squeeze as Poliwag let out a cry. I could see that this fight wasn't going to last much longer.

"Alright, wrap this up with thunder wave!" I called knowing that while it wasn't an attacking move I understood that even in this situation it would cause damage to a water type Pokémon like Poliwag.

Hearing my command Dratini let out a cry before electricity began to spark out from its body and hit the trapped Poliwag in its bind. Poliwag let out a cry as it was shocked and Dratini released it from its grasp, just for it to fall over, its eyes swirling as it sparked from the attack. Now was my chance.

I reached for my belt and pulled off one of my free Pokéballs and sized it up as I took a second to aim, it was harder than it looked, I threw the ball at the downed Pokémon. My aim was true and it hit its mark and opened up. Poliwag was sucked inside with a red stream of light and the Pokéball hit the ground and began to jiggle. one, two, three… and then the light went out.

I stood there watching for five seconds more before a huge grin came to my face and I jumped for joy, "we did it!"

* * *

**Announcement**

**Hey all, hope you all enjoyed the chapter, expect the next to be out hopefully in the next couple of weeks, I'll be trying to post one or two chapters every week to my fictions, so it will be a coin toss which one I'm working on. Which brings me to my announcement.**

**I've gone and set up a Twitter account for my Fanfictions, the link to which is in my Authors profile. So if you want to see what fanfic I'm working on from day to day and receive regular updates on my progress, feel free to follow me.**

**The next chapter of this fanfic will be in third person perspective, I just did it in first person perspective for this chapter to explain Mason's origins easier. Anyway that's all from me for now, see ya's all next time **


	2. Chapter 2

**Well I'm glad to see so many people are enjoying this latest fiction idea of mine, by the number of reviews I'm getting I can see its being a big hit and I've decided to submit to your requests and post another chapter for you all to enjoy.**

**Now there is no set posting schedule for this or my other fanfictions, I generally post when I feel like it, though I'll be trying to keep things in the two week margin. That's the best I can do as I have over ten active fanfictions that I'm currently writing for and give that at most I can only manage about six thousand words a day, on my best days, **

**If you want to be kept up to date on what I'm writing, and went, and to receive updates and notifications about this or any of my other fanfictions, follow me on Twitter, the link is on my Fanfiction profile.**

* * *

**Chapter two-**

**Cute girls, idiots and clowns**

The last three days before he started his journey had flown by. Mason had been riding the high of his catching Poliwag, and the look on the professors' face after he had come by later that evening had been priceless.

He had been taking the past three days to get to know his newest Pokémon as well as see what the little guy could do. He had found that Poliwag only had three moves, Bubble, Hypnosis and Double Slap. Needless to say, he had spent the second-day training Poliwag until it had, at the very least, water gun in its move set. Bubble was good, but it just wasn't fast enough for Mason's standards, and he had plans to replace it with Bubblebeam as soon as he could.

But for now, he had gotten in all the training that he could and was now packing away his things to start off on his journey. A huge grin on his face, he felt like a little kid at Christmas.

The professor had come by very early that morning and had woken him up to invite him to the lab, as the other trainers-to-be would be coming by to collect their Pokémon. He had very politely declined the offer. While he knew he'd eventually be joining up with Ash's little group at some point, he didn't want to start off with him from the very beginning of things. He wanted to make his own way first.

And so it was that half an hour later Mason had left the watchers cabin behind and was following the river with a smile on his face. His bag with his gear on his back, his Pokéballs on his belt, two occupied ones on his right side and his four empty ones on his left.

He already had plans for them in the future, as he realised that when he got a full team it would become annoying to tell them apart. He had recalled an episode later in the series with Richie and his Pokéballs, how he had elemental stickers on them, he figured he'd keep an eye out for something similar. The last thing he wanted to do in a battle was sent out the wrong Pokémon, that would just be embarrassing.

He was well pleased with how things were starting off so far, he had had two Pokémon in his team and was already thinking of other Pokémon to catch to create a balanced team. He had thought of specialising in one specific type, but immediately binned the idea, he wasn't about to limit himself like that.

He was also glad that one of his other worries had been solved that very morning by Professor Oak when he came by. The kindly professor had given him three thousand Pokédollars to start his journey with. That solved his cash problem, at least for now. He didn't see any signs of how trainers earned money in the anime series but suspected it was like the games where he'd have to pay out if he lost a battle. He'd have to remember to come up with a plan on how to get more cash, but for now, he'd settle for challenging any trainer he could find when he stopped at Pokémon centres to refresh his funds.

Right at this minute however, he was keeping his eyes peeled for a certain someone as he followed the river. He knew if this world was exactly like the anime then he'd be coming across her very soon. While he didn't want to cross paths with Ash at the very start, he had no problems with crossing paths with other canon characters, especially of the female variety, and with how the ages were apparently different in this world he was looking forward to meeting her.

Okay yes, he admitted to himself that he was a pervert on some level. He was a hot-blooded male who enjoyed the intellectual company of beautiful women. But he was not as bad as Brock, and anyone who compared him to that lover boy, he would lay them out flat for the insinuation.

His long wait finally bore fruit as he came over a small hill and looked down to the shore of the river and spotted long orange hair by the river that made him pause for a moment as he took in the sight that was Misty Waterflower.

She was definitely older, her orange hair that was short in the anime was grown out to just past her shoulders, and from what Mason could make out, she was wearing more sensible clothing in this world. A light blue, short sleeved, tee-shirt and knee-length jean shorts, that were just form-fitting enough to show the reasonable curves of her feminine figure. All in all, Mason wasn't disappointed.

With a smile, Mason began to make his way down to the shoreline as he watched Misty at the water's edge, her fishing rod in hand as she waited for a bite on the other end, that was cast out into the river.

"Morning," Mason greeted as he came down, "nice day for fishing isn't it, anything biting?" he said trying to start up a conversation.

Misty glanced over her shoulder to him and after a moment gave him a smile, "it is," she said before sighing at his question, "sadly no, I've been out here for an hour and haven't got one bite yet."

Mason nodded sympathetically at her plight. He had never really been one for fishing, in his world or in the Pokémon games, only ever doing it in the game to get the Pokémon he needed for his Pokédex. Feebas had ruined it for him in the third generation.

"Are you a water Pokémon trainer?" Mason asked as he tried to continue the conversation as he glanced to a tree across from them and saw her bike leaning against it, 'it won't be there for much longer, once Ash comes by and nicks it after being an idiot' he thought to himself.

Misty smiled and nodded, "Yeah I am. Name's Misty. Are you a trainer?" she asked as she looked back to him and noticed the Pokéballs on his belt.

Mason smirked and nodded, "Yeah, just started my journey today, I'm Mason Storm, and I'm aiming to become a master Pokémon trainer. Already have two Pokémon in my team." he smirked.

Misty smirked, "awfully big goals to become a Pokémon master, don't you think." she said, clearly amused at his dream.

Mason shook his head, "I don't want to become a Pokémon master." he corrected her, "I said master trainer, like how some people want to become masters of a specific type of Pokémon. I want to learn all about the Pokémon that I catch and train them to be the strongest they can be." he explained, before grinning, "if along the way I become a Pokémon champion or two, I wouldn't say no. It would only be natural with how strong my Pokémon would become with me training them."

Misty giggled at his statement, "I see, well since you told me your dream I'll tell you mine." she said as she stood up, "mine is to become a master water Pokémon trainer, to see all the water Pokémon in the world, and to make a team of the strongest and most beautiful ones" she said her eyes shimmering with passion as she spoke.

Mason smiled, "That sounds like a wonderful dream, I actually have a water Pokémon in my team at the moment, I just caught him a couple of days ago, would you like to see them?" he asked.

Misty's eyes seemed to light up more hearing that, "of course?" she said at the offer instantly.

Mason smiled and nodded as he took off the two Pokéballs from his belt and tossed them to the water, "come on out you two" he called as the balls opened and the forms of both Poliwag and Dratini appeared on top of the water facing them.

"Oh my gosh they're so cute," Misty cooed as she saw them, having retracted her rod and put it to the side before she knelt at the water surface. "Your Poliwag is so adorable, and even though it's not a water Pokémon Dratini is so cute, how did you get one?"

Mason smiled, "it's a long story, Dratini has been my partner for a while now, and the two of us are best buds. Isn't that right Dratini?" Mason asked his partner getting a "Dra!" in response making Misty coo some more at the cute dragon Pokémon.

"Ohhhh," Misty cooed before standing up smiling, "they both look really well trained, I can tell you've been doing a good job with them."

Mason nodded, "thanks, I do try, but it's a team effort," he smiled back looking at his two Pokémon in the water.

"Well I can certainly see that you're not all just talk like some trainers are when they start off," Misty smiled seeing how he looked at his Pokémon, "I can actually see you making your dream a reality if your this good right now"

Mason smirked, "thanks, and I'm sure we'll both achieve our dreams, I can tell you're as passionate about your Pokémon as I am about mine, I bet you'll be a great water Pokémon trainer."

Misty's cheeks blushed at his compliment, "you really think so?" she asked flustered a little at the confidence he had in her, he had only just met her.

Mason smirked, "of course, though I don't think any of them will be able to beat their trainer in the beauty department," he told her with a grin, making Misty's blush darken further.

But their conversation was sadly cut short before she could reply. When a loud noise followed by a loud splash came from the river making both trainers and Pokémon look over at the noise.

"What was that?" Misty asked in shock her eyes wide.

Mason's eyes scanned the water as well as he realised what it was as he mentally sighed, '_here we go'_

A couple of moments passed before they saw a head of black hair with a red cap emerge from the middle of the river and start swimming to shore. "What the hell?" Misty asked as they watched him swim over with one arm while carrying a Pikachu in the other.

Ash made it to the shore but he didn't stop long, "Run!" he yelled as he began to do just that himself and proceeded to run past them before spotting Misty's bike.

"Hey!" Misty yelled as he put his Pikachu in the front basket, "that's my bike what do you think you're doing.

"Sorry, I'll get it back to you later!" Ash yelled back as he began to run the bike up to the path and then took off.

"What the hell!" Misty yelled, outraged as she watched Ash ride off on her bike.

Mason, on the other hand, was looking up at the other side of the river where Ash had fallen in, his eyes wide, "Ah Misty! I think we have bigger problems!" he said before pointing towards the large flock of angry Spearow flying towards them.

"Ahhhhh!" Misty screamed in shock before Mason grabbed her and pulled them both into the river to avoid the angry flock of angry bird Pokémon.

From under the water they watched for several seconds as shadows of the flock passed overhead and continued their pursuit of Ash and Pikachu before they eventually came up gasping for air.

"Thanks for that," Misty said after a moment, half annoyed at the sudden trip into the river and half grateful for his quick thinking, not wanting to have a close encounter with a flock of angry Spearow.

"Don't mention… look out" Mason began to say before switching tacts mid-sentence as he pulled Misty out of the way as a lone Spearow swooped in and tried to attack them.

"Hey don't attack us, that idiot went that way!" Misty yelled at the bird Pokémon as she pointed in the direction Ash had gone.

"I don't think it's going to listen," Mason said as he kept himself afloat next to her, "But if its a battle it wants, Dratini, use Twister!" he called out.

Dratini came up from where it had been in the river and nodded its head before raising it up as once more it began its attack. The winds whipping up as Dratini let out a cry as the waters began to whip around stirred by the winds as the attack continued.

Spearow tried to fly through the winds but it was slowly being pushed back even further towards out above the body of the river where Poliwag popped up.

Seeing the opportunity Mason took it, "Poliwag, use water gun!" he called and the small tadpole Pokémon nodded and it took a breath before releasing a powerful stream of water at the bird Pokémon catching it off guard as it fought the winds. The water hit with a crash and sent the flying type Pokémon skyward and back towards the shoreline before it crashed into the ground its eyes swirling from the attack combo.

Mason and Misty swam towards the shoreline, and the second they were back on dry land Mason wasted no time as he pulled one of the empty Pokéballs from his belt, 'well I needed a flying type, waste not want not' he thought before tossing the Pokéball at the downed Pokémon.

Just like it had three days before the Pokéball sucked in the downed Pokémon and began to shake, once, twice, three times before its light went out, and Mason grinned, that was that.

"Taking every advantage hm?" Misty said as she covered her chest with her hands, her tee-shirt drenched after their impromptu swim in the river before she turned and started to walk over to her bag which she had thankfully not left on her bike, "would you mind turning away,"

Realising what she was asking he nodded and did so as she took a towel from her bag and began to take her shirt off and dry herself down before redressing, this time in a slightly orange shirt with a yellow stripe down the left side of it, "thanks" she said blushing slightly, "you can turn around now"

Mason did so and rubbed the back of his head, "So, what now?" he asked as Misty bent down to pick up her fishing rod, unintentionally giving Mason a bit of a show as her wet shorts clung to her arse now like a second skin, '_Arceus help me'_

"Now," Misty said as she stood up and folded the rod down to put away in her bag, "I track that prat down, give him a piece of my mind and get my bike back."

Mason smirked as he recalled both Poliwag and Dratini to their Pokéballs, "mind if I join you. We were having a nice conversation, I'd like to continue it when you get your bike back" he said grinning.

"Sure, you can hold that idiot while I'm beating the crap out of him," Misty grinned evilly before she started to make her way up to the road with Mason following up behind her, rather enjoying the view her still wet jeans were providing him.

* * *

**Scene break**

It was after a long gruelling walk later that Mason was of the firm belief that if Misty actually asked him to hold Ash while she proceeded to beat the crap out of him, he would have no problems doing just that.

He was soaking wet and had only just managed to get a little dry when the lightning storm had hit and then he was all wet all over again, and it was getting very uncomfortable walking all the way to Viridian City in completely wet clothing.

Yes he could pull out the change of clothes he had in his bag, he would have no problem changing clothes out in the open even with Misty about, but the fact was if he did he'd have nowhere to put his wet clothing. He sure as hell wasn't going to put them into his backpack, not with all his tech in there. So he had settled for walking in wet clothes, and vowed to change, and get a second bag, at his earliest convenience.

Lucky they had managed to take cover a couple of minutes after the storm had started underneath a tree to avoid most of the rain, and set off after Ash again after it had passed. It was roughly twenty minutes after that they had come across Misty's bike in the middle of the road, much to her horror.

"**AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! LOOK AT WHAT THAT BASTARD'S DONE TO MY BIKE!"**

It was charred to a crisp. The rubber of the front and back wheels were melted, and both wheels were badly bent. The entire frame looked as if it had been scorched with a flamethrower. Mason had to wince, it looked much worse than what the anime made it out to be.

"I saved up for months to pay for that. I even got two jobs to pay for it," Misty said as she knelt down, mourned the loss of her bike before she jumped to her feet as her eyes blazed, "He's going to pay for this!"

Mason could only sweatdrop and nodded his head, feeling pity for Ash now as once more they set off again, as they carried the bike between them, resuming the chase for Ash.

* * *

**Scene break**

It was starting to get dark when they finally reached the Viridian city Pokémon centre, still carrying the bike between them as they walked into the centre.

"YOU!", Misty yelled as they walked in and she spotted Ash across the floor of the centre and left Mason behind her as she carried the bike with her, "look what you did to my bike you bastard" she yelled bodily lifting the bike overhead and brought it crashing down on Ash.

Mason could only stand there blinking, he certainly didn't remember that from the anime, but then again they are older so he guessed this was all related to that. And some small part of him couldn't help but smirk watching as Ash got flattened under the bike.

"What do you have to say for yourself you prat, just look at what you did to my bike, do you know how long I had to save up for that," Misty continued to rant at Ash as he groaned from under the bike.

Mason just reached them as Ash finally managed to get out from under the bike and rub his head where the bike had made contact with him, "I'm sorry, alright, it was an emergency"

"I don't want your excuses, you're going to pay to replace my bike that you destroyed!" Misty yelled

"It was an accident," Ash said as he looked down his hat shading his eyes, "I had to get Pikachu to…." he began to say only to clench his fists.

The fire slowly started to go out of Misty's eyes as her anger melted away for the moment realising that something bad had happened and recalled seeing him carrying the injured Pikachu before.

Mason sighed and shook his head and started to walk away to find a room to change in and someplace to hang his clothes up to dry, he was still soaking wet, and he knew from the anime what was going to happen next and he didn't want to be walking around in wet clothes for a battle.

* * *

**Time Skip**

After finding a room and changing out of his clothes and hung them up to dry. Now dressed in a dark blue shirt and black cargo pants, he returned to the waiting main floor of the Pokémon centre to find both Ash and Misty waiting still.

"Still no word?" he asked as he walked over to them, Ash didn't look up, but Misty did and shook her head. Mason found that odd, in the anime, it was right after Misty arrived that Pikachu had been brought out of the treatment room.

But it was at that precise moment that the light at the top of the treatment room door went off with a ping making them all look as the doors opened and Nurse Joy and Chansey came out pushing a stretcher with Pikachu on it hooked up to what looked like a small generator of some kind.

The three of them went over quickly to see the small Pokémon.

"Pikachu," Ash said worried as he looked down at his partner. Pikachu was in no state to reply, it had a number of scratches all over its body and looked pretty banged up, Mason couldn't help but wince seeing the state it was in and felt a small amount of anger well up inside his chest when he remembered how Pikachu got into this state. Protecting Ash from the Spearow after he had been the one to provoke them by throwing a rock at them, 'idiot'

"Your Pikachu will be alright Ash, it just needs to rest now, it's good that you got it here so fast," Nurse Joy told him, "the procedure went well, now it just needs time in the recovery room"

Ash seemed to relax at that, "that's great," he said before looking to Misty, "listen I'm sorry about your bike, but I'm going to need time to…" he began to say before Misty cut him off.

"No way, I fell for that last time!" She yelled at him, the fire back in her eyes, "but you should go and be with your Pikachu now, we can square up later, but don't think I'm forgetting about this Ash Ketchum"

And it was the moment after she said that, that the speakers in the centre came to life and the voice of Officer Jenny played off them "Your attention, please. Our Viridian City Radar detectors have detected an aircraft belonging to a gang of Pokémon thieves. If you have a Pokémon in your possession exercise extreme caution!"

Mason frowned, 'that was a bit long winded of her, but then again the Jenny's in the first series, aren't exactly the sharpest tools in the shed.' he thought to himself as moments after the announcements ended the skylight broke as two Pokéballs dropped in from above, releasing Ekans and Koffing into the centre and Fokking began filling the room with a thick, foul smelling, smoke.

Mason covered his nose and mouth with the neck of his shirt as he could see figures through the smoke.

"What the, who are they?" he heard Ash ask aloud.

"Team Rocket," Mason answered as he looked at the figures through the smoke.

"Oh, did you hear that? Someone knows who we are Jessie," A male voice that Mason knew was James sounded through the smoke.

"I knew we were famous, James~" Jessie's voice sounded as the smoke began to fade.

"If by famous you mean infamous then yes," Mason said with a scowl, noticing the others look to him, "they're a notorious group of Pokémon thieves that normally single out trainers with strong, powerful or rare Pokémon in their possession and then gang up on them and steal them. I heard all about your little group when I was travelling. What are you doing here, there's nothing but weak and injured Pokémon in this centre, seems like a poor choice of a target if you ask me."

"Oh someone sure knows a lot," Jessie commented with a smirk, "and it's true, normally such a place would be too low of a target for us, but you never know when you'll find a diamond in through all the trash"

"You're not getting Pikachu," Ash said from the side as he moved to block them from getting near his injured Pikachu.

"How cute, a boy and his rat," Jessie said as she looked to Ash and rolled her eyes, "we don't want your electric rat boy,"

James smirked, "Didn't you hear your friend kid, we only go after rare and powerful Pokémon, and your Pikachu is neither."

Ash clenched his fists at his sides as he glared at the pair. "You two are really starting to bug me,"

Jessie smirked, "how cute, did you hear that James."

James chuckled, "indeed, the boy is bugged~"

"Meowth~," Meowth said as he jumped down from the skylight, "then let's squash em"

"Koffing attack," "Ekans go!" the pair instantly commanded.

At that Koffing moved in to attack spraying more of the putrid-smelling smoke as it did so. Nurse Joy, Misty and Ash made a run for it pushing Pikachu's gurney with them as they ran for it from the attacking Pokémon. Mason followed, barely ducking as Ekans launched over his head.

'_Damn it,' _Mason mentally cursed, '_I can't even get a chance to grab my Pokéballs'_ he thought to himself as he followed the others in a temporary retreat, '_next time no talking, I'll just kick their asses'_

Mason followed the others and got into the Pokéball storage room just in time as the doors closed and locked behind him. He took a moment to catch his breath mentally cursing himself, he'd been walking all day, suddenly having to run like that had left him breathing hard. '_Damn it, that's it, from not on any time I have my Pokémon training I'll be doing the same, I can't be a called a Pokémon trainer if I'm not fit enough to keep up with my Pokémon'_

Just then the lights went out as he looked up, and remembered this scene in the anime. "They've cut the power." he stated with a frown, "bet it was that Ekans, must have bitten through the power lines."

"That's okay," Joy said as she headed towards the computer, "because we've got our own Pika-power source."

From a glass window into a side room Mason could make out the sparks of electricity begin to light up the room and show a circular treadmill generator with nine Pikachu running around on it, the electricity coming from them. He had to admit it was clever, just as the lights started to come back on.

Nurse Joy was busy typing away and starting up the Pokéball transfer machine and began to transfer all the Pokémon in the centre. Mason turned to the door, he knew what was going to happen and he pulled a Pokéball from his belt.

"Dratini, come on out!" he called as he tossed the ball and the small dragon appeared in front of him facing the door as well, just as smoke began to slip through the cracks. Then Koffing and Ekans burst through the door in a joint attack. Followed by Jessie and James.

The pair stopped however when they saw Mason standing with Dratini ready to meet them and both smirked.

"Well well, what do we have here," Jessie smirked as she eyed Dratini, "looks like we've found the diamond in the trash."

"Hand over the Dratini brat, that's just the kind of Pokémon we're looking for," James demanded.

Mason smirked, "not happening. You two would have a better chance at catching your own that getting my partner from me."

"Don't be so sure of that," Meowth said from between the two human members of team rocket.

"Go get that Dratini, Ekans," "Koffing, you too" they ordered their Pokémon.

Mason smirked as the two Pokémon came at Dratini, "Dratini, Thunder Wave!" he called.

And Dratini obeyed instantly letting out a static burst of electricity from its body, catching the two poison Pokémon off guard and paralyzing them both.

With those two dealt with for now Mason looked back to Ash, "Go, get your Pikachu out of here, I'll deal with these idiots" he said hoping that things would play out like in the anime. While he wanted to beat these clowns himself, he knew that it would be better for him, in the long run, to get their attention onto Pikachu instead of Dratini. That way he wouldn't have to worry about them giving him grief if he ever went off to travel on his own.

Ash nodded his head and began to push Pikachu's gurney towards the other exit from the room. Lucky for Mason, team Rocket took that as a challenge.

"Forget Dratini for now, after that brat, Ekans," "you as well Koffing" the idiots ordered, not noticing Mason's triumphant smirk, as he watched them give chase.

Wanting to see the show, however, Mason ran forward and picked up Dratini and ran after them. Misty noticed him leave and ran after him, "hey wait!"

They reached the doorway into the entrance hall of the centre just in time to hear the loud explosion and see the bright flash of it. Mason mentally cursed as he turned to pull Misty close to him and down with Dratini between them as he covered them as the smoke cloud and shock wave came towards them in a loud, **BOOM!**

It took thirty long seconds for the smoke to clear and the rubble to settle after the explosion before Mason began to get up and offered a hand to a blushing Misty.

"T-Thanks" she thanked him as he helped her up and they began to venture out into the ruined entrance hall that was only rubble now.

Mason whistled as they reached Ash and Pikachu who now looked as strong as ever, "Damn," he said surveying the damage, "that Pikachu of yours packs quite the punch doesn't he" he said as he looked around and smirked, '_If that didn't focus their attention solely on Pikachu, I don't know what will' _he mentally thought, before looking over towards where the room was that he had left his clothes dry and his jaw dropped as all he saw was ruins as well, '_well, looks like I'm going clothes shopping as soon as I reach Pewter city, cause I doubt I'll have time tomorrow' _he though while extremely grateful that he had kept his bag with him and hadn't left it in his room, though he would have to make sure and check his stuff inside it later to make sure nothing was damaged.

* * *

**Time Skip**

It was the next morning as Mason got up from his bed stretching and letting out a loud yawn as he got to his feet. The three of them had been able to sleep in the undestroyed rooms in the Pokémon centre, after the events of last night.

Quickly pulling on his clothes and grabbing his backpack, he went down to get some breakfast in the cafeteria, which lucky enough had been at the opposite end of the corridor from the entrance hall and hadn't been damaged in the explosion the night before.

Reaching a table Mason sat down and began to dish out some of the Pokémon food that he had for his team, putting his bag to the side when he was done. He was extremely thankful when he checked through it last night, none of his gear was damaged in the slightest.

Mason calls out Dratini, Poliwag and Spearow for breakfast, having made sure to get all three check-ups with Nurse Joy an hour before he went to bed, and now all three were back to full health and ready for anything.

It was then that Misty came into the cafeteria yawning as she spotted Mason, "morning~" she said as she came over and sat down at the table with a smile, "sleep well?" she asked.

"Heck yeah," he replied with a grin, "it was so good to sleep in a real bed for a chance." And he meant it, multiple weeks in the watchers' cabin, sleeping in an old cot had left him dying for a real bed again. "I slept like the dead last night,"

Misty giggled hearing him and shook her head, "yeah Pokémon centres are great."

Mason nodded at that as he mentally noted that any chance he got he would be staying in one when he could screw camping out, he'd take a comfy bed, soft pillows and warm covers any day of the week.

That what when Ash walked in still half asleep, his eyes still half closed like the walking dead. Letting out a loud yawn and a sleepy, "morning".

Mason's Spearow seemed to twitch when it heard Ash's voice, and quicker than Mason or Misty could track, the tiny-bird shot into the air and right at Ash and began to peck at Ash's head.

"Ow, hey! Cut it out!" Ash cried, now very much awake after the multiple pecks to his head. Before he recognised the Spearow, "hey I recognise you, you're that Spearow I threw a rock at yesterday..." he began to say before covering his mouth realising what he was saying.

And like that Misty was up off her seat and glaring at him, "So that's it! That's what started that whole mess! That's what led to my bike being destroyed!" she yelled as she began to march toward him her fists balled at her sides, and before Ash could even say anything she whacked him over the head and laid him out flat on the ground groaning, "You idiot!"

Mason sighed as Spearow flew back over to him and landed on his shoulder and he watched him with a smirk, 'of all the Spearow I could have caught it just had to be the one that Ash tried to catch, what are the odds on that.' he thought to himself and shook his head with a small smirk, "Hey, come on now, it's time to eat not argue, you can pummel him for his stupidity when we're on the road to Pewter city."

That seemed to get Ash's attention, "Say what?" he asked confused.

Only to get another fist to the top of his head courtesy of Misty, "you don't think I'm going to let you go and run off, do you! You still owe me a new bike for the one you destroyed!"

"OW!" Ash moaned rubbing his head as a large lump began to form on it.

Mason just smirked, 'That will never get old' he thought to himself and sat back as he took up the menu and began to look through it deciding what to have for breakfast. '_Hmmm, I think I'll have pancakes, with a side of bacon'_


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey all, I'll be answering some of the review questions at the end of the chapter, hope you all enjoy this one, nothing extremely major happens in it but it's setting up for the next chapter, anyways enjoy.**

* * *

**Chapter three-**

**A sharp encounter, and hard training**

It was a couple hours after breakfast when the three of them were finally entering the thick of Viridian forest, after having a good night's rest and filling breakfast that morning. As they were walking, Mason was scribbling down things inside a small notebook that he had bought at a shop on the way out of Viridian city as he began to make future plans on things that needed doing.

There was just so much to do at the start of a journey that he was having a hard time keeping it all in his head and remembering it all. So typing it up on his MacBook or writing it down helped keep him straight, and since he couldn't very well walk around in public with his MacBook out he was settling for the little notebook instead.

Misty was acting twitchy as they walked through the forest, her eyes darting all over the place as her Entomophobia (fear of insects) began to show itself. Mason wasn't going to say anything about it, he didn't like insects either though he thought the only bug Pokémon he would be creeped out by would be the Spinarak line, he hated spiders.

As they continued walking Ash eventually noticed Mason with his book and constant writing and arched an eyebrow, "What are you writing? You've been doing it the entire walk" he asked and commented as he tried to glance into the book.

Mason gave him a side glance before looking back to his book, "currently I am planning out the various training regiments that I'm going to be starting my Pokémon on when we reach the next city," he said as he added another scribble to the book, "With Spearow now in my team I'm thinking that I'll be able to utilise him and train both him and Poliwag together to improve Poliwags attack and accuracy while simultaneously training Spearows speed and dodging" he explained as he added more to his notes.

"Wow, that's impressive Mason, you've really put a lot of thought into your Pokémons training," Misty commented as she looked over his shoulder at his notes and blinked seeing how detailed they were, naming attacks and training strategies, moves and others that could come from them along with the factors involved in learning them, "A lot of thought."

Mason nodded as he finished making his notes and slipped the book into his back pocket, "Of course, if I want my Pokémon to become as strong as they can be I need to think long and hard about their training and how to get the most out of it for them"

"And what will you be having Dratini do?" Ash asked sounding rather board about it.

Mason shrugged, "for now Dratini's training is coming along well, we're focusing on making Twister more powerful for now while he's still getting the hang of Dragon rage, but once he has a good grasp of that we'll be moving on to other Dragon-type moves to give him more power," he explained.

Ash looked at him strangely when he said, "How do you teach your Pokémon moves, don't they just learn then naturally?" he asked confused.

Mason shook his head, "Yes it happens, but to me just sitting around and waiting for my Pokémon to pick up moves through standard training sounds like a complete waste of time. When you could just as easily do a bit of research about the move you want your Pokémon to learn and then come up with a training regimen for them to learn it, after that it's time to buckle down and train hard to get the results you're aiming for."

Misty giggled at Ash's dumbstruck look, "that much is obvious that any trainer should know that much. If you want your Pokémon to be stronger you have to train them."

Ash seemed to scowl at Misty's comment before looking back to Mason, "how do you know so much about Pokémon. I thought you said back at the Pokémon centre that you only just started your travelling like me?" he asked annoyed that he was getting shown up.

Mason gave as an "Are-you-dense" look as he arched an eyebrow, "I read about them, I studied for weeks before I set off, I made sure to know everything I could before I was to leave on my journey, because only an idiot leaves without preparing themselves," he stated, and it was true, he'd read plenty on his Macbook, and watch plenty of Pokémon so he considered himself very prepared, "I learned each Pokémon's strengths and weaknesses, their attacks and more. So that I would know exactly how to train each of them if I ever got one of them on my team. How else am I going to achieve my dream if I don't learn all I can to make my Pokémon as strong as they can be"

Ash seemed taken back for a second by that statement and how Mason said it, "I… I never thought about it like that. I just thought to be a Pokémon master all you have to do is catch a lot of strong Pokémon and win a lot of battles."

Mason sighed, he had been hoping that Ash would be a little wiser, than his anime counterpart, given how old he was. But it appeared that instead of getting a dumbass kid Ash, Mason had to deal with a dumbass teenager Ash instead. "And pray tell, how did you intend to catch those strong Pokémon or win those battles if you're Pokémon aren't strong in the first place and you put zero effort into actually training them to make them stronger?" he asked hoping that something he was saying was getting through to him, "to be a good trainer you need to be knowledgeable about Pokemon typings. So that you know what Pokémon work well with one another in teams. And being knowledgeable enough about those Pokémon to train them to be their best and keep improving. Because no matter how strong you may think you are or how good you may be, there will always be someone out there who is stronger and better than you."

Misty nodded her head in agreement with Mason's words before she paused as a shiver went down her spine, as she paused in her step making both boys pause in theirs and look back to her, to see her look behind them at a small Caterpie who was sitting watching them.

Misty gave a shriek and rushed to behind Mason, "keep it away!" she said shivering in disgust.

"Aw cool it's a Caterpie, it's one of the bug Pokémon," Ash said as he turned to face the Caterpie and took a Pokéball from his belt and looked seriously at the small green Pokémon before rearing back his arm, "Go Pokéball!" he called as he threw the ball at it.

Mason watched rather dispassionately as the ball made contact and sucked the small Pokémon inside and the light on its front going out quickly. He knew it was going to happen so he didn't really get much thrill out of watching a catch like that. 'Guess that's what happens when you already know what's going to happen in advance' he thought to himself. It was one of the reasons he knew he would be breaking off from them a lot just to get to enjoy some of his own adventures.

Ash quickly picked up the Pokéball and began to celebrate, "I did it, I caught a Caterpie!" he said doing a little dance with the Pokéball in hand.

Misty shivered again behind Mason, "Why on earth would you be excited about catching a gross bug?" she asked in disdain.

Mason sighed at her fear and shook his head, "Misty, you should really be more accepting of all types of Pokémon. You do realise that there are Pokémonin the world with dual typings right? What are you going to do if you come across a water and bug type pokemon?" he asked her over his shoulder.

That made her pause for thought, "Well…. I…" she said not sure how to respond to that at all and was starting to feel a little bad.

Mason just shook his head, "food for thought" he said as he turned and began to walk away from the path.

Both Ash and Misty saw him walk away and blinked, "Hey, where are you going?" Ash called out to him.

Mason just waved over his shoulder, "going exploring by myself, this forest is teaming with bug Pokémon, one of them will probably make a good addition for my team as well. And if we stick together we'd just end up fighting over who'll get to catch the next one, and I'd rather not let a Pokémon get away while I'm kicking your ass" he smirked as he heard Ash's muffled yells after him as he walked on, "I'll meet up with you both in Pewter city," was the last thing he called back before he disappeared into the forest to begin his hunt.

* * *

**Scene break**

It was half an hour later and Mason was still moving through the thick bush line and dense forest in his search for his next catch, he'd encountered some Pokémon already but nothing with any real potential, and he was beginning to lose hope as he came out into a clearing where the grass was up to his hips.

He sighed, he had been hoping that he'd be able to find something strong here for his team. He remembered the Samurai trainer from the anime having a Pinsir and decided that the chances were good that he'd caught it in this forest. So he had theorized that there was more than just the weak Pokémon like the Caterpie and Weedle evolution lines in this forest to catch, that is wasn't just like the video games.

Walking out into the middle of the area he was trying to think what do to now since his search was bearing little fruit. '_I could send Spearow out and have him do an aerial search and see if I can find anything that way'_ he thought to himself, coming up with a plan of attack.

But just as he did he heard the rustling of grass off to his right. Movement caught his eye and he instantly threw himself into a roll just as the top two inches of grass where he'd been standing was sheared off by a sharp cutting attack.

Turning and coming up to his feet fast from his dodge. Mason came face to face with the culprit of the attack and a grin split his face from ear to ear when he saw what it was, '_Bingo!' _he thought to himself as he looked at the very angry looking Scyther who was glaring at him as it ran its bladed arms off one another.

"Well aren't you an angry fella," Mason smirked as he pulled his Pokédex from his back pocket and held it up to record the mantis Pokémons data.

"Scyther, the Mantis Pokémon. Its claws are sharp as swords, and it is a powerful flyer. This Pokémon is rarely seen by humans and almost never captured." Dexter recited off in its robotic voice making Mason grin.

"Is that a fact," Mason said taking the reading as a challenge, "Well, we'll just have to see about that last part" he said as he closed the Pokédex and slipped it back into his pocket as he kept an eye on the territorial Scyther as he reached for Dratinis' Pokéball. From what he could guess this clearing was likely it's territory and he must have pissed it off by walking in uninvited, lucky him.

"So you want a fight, do you? Well we'll give you one then," Mason said as he tossed the Pokémon between them and Dratini appeared in a flash of light as the ball recoiled back to Mason as he caught it, "Ready for a battle Dratini!"

Dratini gave a rather cute yell of "Dra!" in confirmation as Mason smirked.

Scyther seemed to take that as a challenge and picked itself up off the ground with its wings and sped at the pair of them, blades at the ready.

Instantly Mason's mind went into stratagising mode as he began to come up with a plan, 'it's too fast, Dratini won't be able to dodge it in time, gotta stall it' he thought to himself before calling out, "Dratini, use Leer!"

Dratini did just that as it began to leer at the rapidly approaching Scyther as its eyes began to glow red as it did so. The action gave Scyther pause for a moment during its attack and Mason saw his opening, "Dodge now Dratini and use Thunder Wave!" he called knowing that if they were going to have a chance at winning then needed to gain a speed advantage.

Dratini did just that as he lowered its body when Scyther's attack resumed and its blades just missed the top of Dratini's head as the small dragon began to spark before letting out the electrical wave from its body, catching Scyther in its pulse.

Scyther grunted as it felt the electrical attack and Mason smirked, it wouldn't do much damage ways but Mason knew it would feel something, with it having a secondary flying typing.

With his opponent now paralysed and open for an attack, Mason saw his opportunity and went for the kill, "Twister!"

Scyther took the attack point blank, being so close to Dratini when the attack was launched and was caught full frontal by the powerful winds and was thrown bodily backwards before slamming back first into a tree, before falling to a knee it's body sparking from the paralysis.

Mason didn't waste a second as he reached for his belt and had a full-sized Pokéball in his hand the next second and had his arm up to throw the half second after that before the red and white sphere was hurtling through the air right after.

His aim was true and it hit Scyther right on the top of its head, being too paralysed to defend it was sucked inside and the ball fell to the ground and into the tall grass.

Mason paused and waited for a five count, he couldn't tell if the catch had been successful or not, the tall grass kept him from seeing the Pokéball, but as five seconds reached ten and then twenty, his grin began to make its way back onto his face as he began to approach the area the ball had fallen in.

And sure enough. There in the tall grass. The Pokéball sat, still and calm, the light on its front out. He'd done it again.

Kneeling down Mason lifted the Pokéball with a grin as he looked over to Dratini, "Nice Job buddy, we just got ourselves a new teammate" he grinned.

"Dra!" Dratini cried happily as Mason pointed his Pokéball towards him and returned him to it in a beam of red light.

Attaching both Pokéballs to his belt again Mason gave a pleased sigh before rubbing the back of his head, 'well now that that's done I suppose I'd better be getting out of here and make my way to Pewter city, it's going to be a long walk' he thought to himself as he began to press on and deeper into the forest.

'_If I recall the timeline of the anime, Ash should be running into Weedle or Pidgeotto right about now before his run-in with the Samurai'_ he thought to himself as he walked, '_and I noted that Ash mentioned in his gym battle with Brock that Ash said he'd been a trainer for two weeks, so it took them roughly ten days to get through Viridian Forest'_

Mason halted in his steps when he thought that and groaned, "I don't want to be in this forest for ten hours let alone ten days" he moaned at the thought of having to camp outside for that long. He knew he would have to do lots of camping on his journey but after spending a night in the comfy bed back at the Viridian Pokémon centre he was really not looking forward to camping out. He didn't even have a tent or a sleeping bag to use, he hadn't had time to buy them yet.

Resigned to his fate he resumed his walk and continued onwards, pushing the thought of the long week of sleeping on the ground to the back of his mind. It would only depress him if he thought about it any more.

* * *

**Time Skip **

Four long hours of walking later Mason was blinking as he stared out at the wide open plains in front of him, with the long winding road that had a sign pointing down it with "Pewter city" written on it in clear bold letters.

"What the hell?" Mason said clearly baffled as he looked back at the forest he had just made his way through, "how did I get through that so quickly?" he wondered aloud.

'_Ash and Misty spend at least ten days in there in the anime,' _he thought to himself as he recalled it all and tried to think of an explanation before it hit him and he smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand, '_are you telling me Ash mucked around in there all that time completely lost and when he could have made it out in less than half a day'_ he mentally groaned, that settled it for him, Ash was an idiot.

Shaking his head he started walking down the road heading in the direction of Pewter city, '_looks like I'm going to be waiting a while in Pewter city for those two to catch up with me, boy am I glad that I didn't stick with them now, I'd have been in there for ages. Now I should hopefully reach Pewter city in no time and get my training plan for my team started, buy all the gear I'll be needing and to top it all off, get to sleep in a nice warm bed again tonight' _he thought to himself as he slipped his iPod and headphones out of his backpack to put on some tunes to walk to, life was good.

* * *

**Time Skip**

It was just starting to get dark as Mason arrived at the Pewter city Pokémon centre and sighed with relief, the walk had been a very long one and he had decided to add looking for a pair of comfortable padded walking boots to his to buy list when he went out the next day to do some shopping.

Once he was inside he made his way over to the seating area to sit down to rest his feet for a few minutes. 'One thing that people never think about when they think that being a Pokémon trainer, all the travelling is killer on your feet, now I see why Misty was so upset about Ash destroying her bike.' Mason thought to himself as he planned to soak his feet after getting something to eat.

After ten or so minutes he rose from his seat and walked up to the front desk where the Pewter City Nurse Joy greeted him.

"Hello, how can I help you young man" She greeted him with a pleasant smile.

Mason smiled back as he took Scythers Pokéball off his belt, "could you please, treat my Scythers injuries. I just caught him on the way here, the battle was short but a little rough" he told her as he handed her the Pokéball.

Taking the Pokéball she nodded understandingly, "Of course, I'll see to him right away,"

"Thank you," Mason said and turned. He was about to go and look for the cafeteria to get some dinner, but paused when he noticed the telephones and frowned before shrugging, 'Might as well' he thought to himself as he walked over to them and began to dial up Professor Oak's lab, having memorized the number during his stay at the watchers cabin.

After a couple of moments, the screen flashed and the kindly Professor appeared on the screen, "Oh hello Mason, I wasn't expecting a call from you." he said sounding happily surprised.

Mason smirked, "Yeah sorry Professor, I planned to call you back in Viridian city, but some things happened. Long story"

Oak chuckled, "No need to apologize, my lad, I'm sure you have your reasons. And Viridian you say, did you by chance run into a boy about your age, by the name of Ash there?"

Mason nodded, "Yeah I did, I ended up following him all the way to Viridian City. After he ended up getting chased by a flock of angry Spearow,"

"Oh my! What did he do, to get in such a mess?" Oak asked sounding concerned.

Mason shook his head, "apparently he was having trouble getting his Pikachu to obey him, so thought it would be a bright idea to try to catch a Pokémon by hand and threw a rock at a Spearow, and things snowballed from there"

"Oh no," Oak groaned, "why does that sound exactly like something that boy would do?" he sighed

Mason smirked, "he then proceeded to be chased by the flock that came to the aid of their fellow Spearow and got chased right into the river. Climbing out he made his escape by "Borrowing" the bike of a girl I was having a pleasant conversation with by the shoreline, the flock still hot on his tail. The girl, Misty, and I had to jump into the river to avoid becoming targets of the flock ourselves"

Oak was groaning louder and louder as the story continues, "Merciful heavens, that boy can't help but cause trouble can he, did your friend get her bike back?"

Mason shook his head, "That's why we were originally following him, but halfway to Viridian, we found her bike in the middle of the road, it looked like it had been scorched, it was damaged beyond all hope of repair. Needless to say, Misty was pissed. I ended up helping her carry her ruined bike all the way to Viridian city and the Pokémon centre there, and then she proceeded to use it as a club and smack Ash over the head with it." Mason smirked, "And now she refuses to leave him alone until he's paid her back in full by replacing her bike. Last I saw them they were both in Viridian forest heading here."

Oak groaned but chuckled when he heard about how Ash had gotten himself some unwanted travel companions, "I see, well perhaps that will teach him to be a bit more responsible." he said amused, "now what about you Mason, how has your journey been coming, it sounds like you've reached Pewter City, very quickly too I might add." he said sounding impressed.

Mason nodded, "Yeah I just got in about ten minutes ago it was a shorter trip than I thought. I expected to spend one night in the forest at least, but I got through it within five hours." he explained.

"Very impressive indeed, most trainers heading through there get sidetracked with all the Pokémon in the forest and can spend days just looking for new Pokémon to catch." Oak smiled before frowning, "I hope you aren't missing out on catching any new Pokémon by going so fast."

Mason shook his head, "No Professor, I've got four Pokémon on my team already. I caught one of the Spearow from the flock that was chasing Ash, and then I went out on my own in Viridian Forest and caught myself a Scyther to add to my team."

Oaks eyes seemed to grow wider as he heard that, "very impressive, and a Scyther you say, I didn't think there were any Pokémon like that in Viridian forest, I had heard tales of some odd Pincer but never a Scyther. It's very impressive that you caught one, they're notoriously difficult to catch."

Mason nodded, "yeah the battle was quick but still challenging, Scyther really had some speed, but Dratini's training showed, a quick paralysis and we had the upper hand. Scyther is currently being treated right now so I'll be checking on him tomorrow and starting my teams training early in the morning before I sign up for the Indigo league and then go out and do a bit of shopping for some gear."

"Oh taking the gym challenges are you?" Oak asked before smiling, "Well I'm sure that you'll do just fine, you seem to have everything well in hand, more so than Ash anyway, I swear that boy worries me sometimes, it's a miracle his mother doesn't have as many grey hairs than I do by how much trouble he gets into" he sighed, "well I don't keep you any longer," he added after a moment, "I'm sure you must be hungry and tired after your travels, I'll let you get something to eat before you go to bed."

"Thanks, Professor, I'll make sure to call you after I've gotten my first badge from the Gym here in Pewter, I'll be sticking around at least until Ash and Misty catch up before I move on," He told him with a nod of his head.

"Good luck my lad" And with that, the call ended.

Mason sighed as he hung up the receiver and stood up, '_yep dinner and bed sound like a good idea to me'_ he thought as he turned and started to head off to look for the cafeteria to get started on just that.

* * *

**Time Skip**

Like Mason had said it was early the next morning when he woke up, while he wanted to enjoy sleeping in the comfortable bed some more, he knew he needed to make a start on his teams' training. Brock was no pushover and he wanted to get as much training done as he could before he would be confident enough to make his challenge.

After retrieving his Scyther from Nurse Joy at the main desk. He went to the cafeteria and put out the food for all of his Pokémon before he called them all out.

Spearow and Poliwag looked to be a little shocked by the appearance of the newest addition to their group but Mason on smirked, "Alright everyone, this is Scyther, he joined our little group yesterday, make him feel welcome, okay"

Scyther seemed to eye him and the other Pokémon wearily as it began to eat. Mason just put it down to being the new guy and not really knowing the others yet, he was sure after a couple of training sessions things would smooth themselves out.

"Make sure to eat well, once breakfast is over we'll be starting training, we have a gym challenge to prepare for," Mason told them as he sat down at the table and began to eat his own breakfast. Though the glint in Scyther's eyes when training was mentioned didn't go unnoticed by him and he hid his smirk. '_Oh you'll fit in well on this team'_ he thought to himself as he ate.

As soon as their food was all finished, Mason led them all out to the back area of the Pokémon centre, where there was a battlefield set up as well as a training area that was free to use for all trainers.

"Perfect," Mason smirked as he looked over the clear area, there was room enough here to two full teams to train at once, plenty of room for his team of four to train.

"Alright listen up, I spent yesterday and last night thinking long and hard on various training methods for each of you, and how to improve yourselves," Mason stated as he looked over his team.

"Poliwag, Spearow, you two will be training together. Spearow you will be doing aerial manoeuvres in the sky, while Poliwag will be using you as a target for his Water Gun. This exercise will be to help improve your speed and evasiveness, while also working to improve Poliwags power, range and accuracy" He explained getting nods from both the small bird and tadpole pokemon, "Good now get to work" he ordered and both started over to an area of the training area to begin.

Mason turned his attention to Dratini, "Dratini, you'll be working on your own today, I want you to spend today working on getting Dragon rage down," he said before pointing to the far end of the training field where a large wall of sheet metal was set up with red targets painted on it, "I want you to continue the exercises we were practising back at the cabin. Gathering your energy into a single point and fire it at those targets, okay" he said getting a nod and an enthusiastic "Dra!" in response from the small dragon, "okay go get started then" he said and watched as his partner slithered off down to the targets to begin practising.

Mason then turned his attention to Scyther who was looking very impatient and not impressed at being left for last. Mason smirked, "I haven't forgotten about you, Scyther. We're going to be working on something very special for you" he explained as he gestured for the large mantis to follow him over to two large thick wooden poles that were sticking out of the ground, that looked to be for Pokemon to punch or to use as targets for attacks.

"From what I saw yesterday in our battle, you are fast as well as strong, but from what I saw you are limited to only physical slashing attacks, what I want you to focus on in your training will be to pull your energy into your blades as you swing, and try to force it out in blades of wind to attack with, think you can handle that?" Mason asked figuring a challenge would be best for the bug Pokémon who was obviously confident in his strength.

"Scyther," Scyther nodded its head and ran its blades together as he approached the thick poles and began to slash at them as it began its exercise, a look of concentration on his face.

Mason nodded and glanced over to his other Pokémon seeing them all hard at work as they carried out the exercises he'd given them and smirked.

'_Perfect, hopefully, Dratini will be able to get Dragon rage down in a couple more days. And with the training, I've given Poliwag and Spearow they should get stronger. I need Spearow to learn Aerial Ace and Poliwag to learn Hydro pump to give them both an edge in battles,' _he thought to himself about the end goals of the training regiments he'd planned out for them, before glancing back to Scyther who was still clashing his blades against the metal poles, '_and hopefully is scyther can learn Razor wind, the likes of Air Slash, Night Slash and X-scissor shouldn't be far away, he already has false swipe down which will be useful if I need to catch other Pokémon, but he needs to increase his attack and get some long-range moves in order to keep him out of the thick of it. Both his defence and special defence are lacking, he's a fast moving glass sword. We'll have to work on that too'_ he thought to himself before he turned and started to walk over to another area of the training ground that was clearly set up for the trainers to join their pokemon in training.

'_Time to work up a sweat' _he thought to himself as he took off his shirt and shoes and began to get to work on his own physical conditioning.

* * *

**Time Skip**

It was only after a solid four hours of training that Mason finally called the training session to an end and recalled all of his team to their Pokéballs to let them rest before going inside to get himself a drink.

The training session had been very beneficial as far as he was concerned. Dratini had finally managed to start to get Dragon rage down, it was still weak and wouldn't be useful in battle for some time yet, but it showed great promise.

Poliwag and Sparrows training was showing great strides as well, Spearow was definitely a speed demon in the sky, he hadn't been hit once by Poliwags attacks and Mason suspected that it wouldn't be long before it picked up Aerial ace on its own. While Poliwags water gun was coming a long way, it was looking a lot stronger, but he still suspected it would be a while before he would be able to use Hydro Pump.

Scyther was also showing promise by the end of the four hours, that was clear from the thick thunks that he had slashed out of the wooden poles he'd been practising on. Mason could tell that the mantis Pokémon was determined to rise to his challenge and was taking to his training with passion, something that the other Pokémon on his team were respecting and that same respect was being returned.

After getting a bottle of water from the vending machines Mason returned to his room to take a quick shower and to plan what he was going to do next.

He could see that his teams' training was coming along well and that he suspected within a few more days Dratini would be strong enough to take on Brock's rock Pokémon himself. But he wasn't about to be that arrogant. He wasn't about to bank on one of his Pokémon winning it all for him because he plainly didn't know what strategy Brock would use.

He knew Brock had two Pokémon on his team, his Geodude and Onix, but he didn't want to play Dratini right from the start because for all he knew Brock would start with Onix from the get-go and his dragon range trump card would be worthless.

He also didn't want to put all his money on Poliwag either, using Brocks one weakness against him seemed like a cheap move to him and he didn't want to insult him like that. The man may have been an absolute perverted dog, but he was still a damn good trainer and he wasn't going to pull a cheap punch like that. Sure if he actually lost the first time he'd come back the next day and give no quarter and use everything he had the second time, but as it stood now, he didn't plan on using Poliwag in his first gym battle.

With thoughts of his future battle put to the side, Mason took out his notebook again and began to think of just what things he would need to get while he was out. Now that he was finally in a city on his own with cash to burn he needed to get himself properly kitted out for life on the road and so began making a list.

'_Sleeping bag, single tent, walking shoes, a couple of shirts and pants, training clothes, a jacket and other clothes, a bag to carry all this…_' he began to mentally list as he continued to write down all of the things.

After half an hour Mason had his list made up and he hoped that he had enough money to cover it all, he was very glad that it wasn't like the games where he'd have to fork out an endless stream of cash to keep stock on Pokéballs for catching Pokémon, seeing as the balls didn't break after a failed capture and could be used again. Though he had made a not in his book to check future cities to see about getting other Pokéballs than just the regular kind.

With his list made up, Mason left his room and headed out into the city to begin searching the shops to get together his things and see everything this city had to offer, now that he had time and privacy to get his shit together he wasn't about to waste it.

* * *

**Answers**

**Reptil: well I didn't want him meeting up with Ash from the very start because I felt it was to standard, I felt that most people when starting a fic like mine would have their OC do just that, I wanted my fic to be a little more unique **

**Nitewolf423: Your concerns will be addressed in the next chapter.**

**SarahTaylorTam: Sorry but this fic will kind of be OC centric, with Mason breaking out on his own multiple times to avoid tedious canon stuff and do his own thing. And I hope this chapter put his own training at ease**

**Shadowjab17: well hopefully my re-post of it fixed those mistakes**

**Hardwin Potter: He will be travelling on his own in most chapters, I have a set plan for when he breaks away from the group at various points but joins up with them for certain times for specific reasons. I'm not sure what grammatical errors you mean, but I will take another in-depth read to try and suss them out. As for the Pokemon names, I'm fairly certain I got them right.**

**Sadreader: sorry that I made you sad**


	4. Chapter 4

**Here's the next chapter everyone, I know you have all been looking forward to it, and like I promised here it is. My writing has been getting a little slower as of late but it shouldn't affect my stories much. I'm expecting some rather big things to start happening in my life in the next couple of months, finally getting my own place, starting up a YouTube channel with my friends, so things might take a short pause sometime in the near future, but I'm going to try to build up a chapter reserve so that it shouldn't affect my updates too much. **

**If you want to keep up to date on this and all my other fanfictions, currently I've had to cut my active fictions down to this and three others to lighten my load, be sure to follow me on Twitter, the link is on my author profile. I will try to post updates at least three times a day if I'm writing that day. Please follow me there. It's a huge motivational boost to see people everyone showing their support in that way. Thanks, and now enjoy.**

* * *

**Chapter 4 -**

**Cracking rock with strategy**

It was several days after his arrival in Pewter city that Mason finally stood outside the Pewter city gym, it was an intimidating sight. The large stone structure with the iron frame a very impressive sight, it actually looked like the exterior of the building had been carved from solid stone.

It had been a sight he had been looking forward to seeing finally, since he had arrived in the city a week ago and went out shopping for his new gear. Speaking of which he was now wearing.

He had stuck with his black cargo pants and replaced his trainers with some comfortable, padded, steel-toed hiking boots. He had also bought a number of vest shirts in different colours and was now wearing a plain white one underneath his new steel grey jacket, it went down to his hips and had a flared collar to protect his neck from the win, and to complete his look he had even gotten a pair of fingerless black gloves for his hands.

All in all, he thought he was looking very much like a badass. Though the expenses that day had left him somewhat lacking in the money department. Shaving off two-thirds of the money that he had, but he had gotten everything he needed out of the list, so it was money well spent.

He hadn't seen any stickers for his Pokéballs, and none of the shops sold any of the other kinds of Pokéballs but that didn't surprise him. He suspected that he'd have to go to a much larger city to get any of those.

Mason looked up at the large structure one last time before he started forward towards the doors confident that he and his team had put in enough training to win their upcoming battle. They had worked hard for the past week straight, training twice a day, for eight hours total each day to really gain some results.

And now it was time to put their training to the test. He put his hands on the doors and pushed them open as he walked into the dark interior of the gym.

Even though it was dark inside, Mason was able to squint his eyes slightly and make out the white markings on the floor, for where the challenging trainer was meant to stand. Mason knew the layout of the gyms main floor and knew that just ahead was where the rock battlefield was brought out. He was not about to pull an Ash and look like a complete idiot having to run back to avoid the sliding field, no thank you.

Mason smirked as he took his position before he called out in a professional voice, "My name is Mason Storm. I'm a trainer from Pallet town, and I am here to challenge the Pewter city gym leader, Brock, for the Boulder badge."

Almost instantly the lights at the far end of the room flickered on and Mason could see Brock sitting cross-legged on a small platform. He could see that he looked exactly like he did in the anime. Tanned skin and slightly narrow eyes, with a head of spiky black hair. An orange shirt and brown cargo pants with a green vest jacket over the top. He looked to be about eighteen, so a couple of years older than most new trainers he would face here.

"I am Brock of the pewter city gym, and I accept your challenge," he said as he jumped down from the platform, "Is this your first gym battle?"

Mason nodded his head, "It is, but I've already taken the time to read the rules and regulations to expect for them. What's the match set up here?"

Brock gave a smirk and nodded before he snapped his fingers and the walls at the side of the room opened up as more lights flickered on and the rock field began to come together.

"We'll each use two Pokémon, and only you are permitted to substitute Pokémon in this match." Brock explained as the field came together, "Its a pleasant surprise to face a challenger who actually reads up on the matches beforehand. It lets me know you're here to take this battle seriously." he said with a smirk, "Most trainers barge in here and make their challenges like some idiot not knowing the full extent of what to expect."

Mason sighed, "Yeah I know someone just like that, brash and doesn't think with his head half the time. He'll be in for a hard wake up call on of these days" Mason said as the field finished forming, "shall we get started then?" he asked as he grinned.

Brock nodded with a grin of his own and tossed his Pokéball out into the rocky battlefield, "go Geodude!"

Mason smirked and pulled his Pokédex out to do his reading on it as he flipped it open and pointed the camera towards it.

"Geodude, the Rock Pokémon. Geodude has incredibly high defensive power, making it virtually resistant to any physical attacks."

Mason nodded as he put his Pokédex away and took the fourth ball from his belt, "a strong start, let's see if I can match it" he said as he sized up his Pokéball and tossed it out, "Scyther, ready for battle!"

Scyther appeared out of its ball its blades crossed in front of it before slashing the air letting out a cry of "Scyther!" apparently ready for a fight.

Brock smirked from his side of the field in approval, "your Scyther looks very well trained Mason, but you do realise you're at a type disadvantage from the start of this, and that's going to cost you. Geodude, use Tackle!"

Mason smirked, "that's what you think, Scyther, use Agility to dodge!"

As Geodude went in for its attack, Scyther blurred and disappeared before it reappeared again across the battlefield. Geodude went to attack again, only for the same thing to happen as Scyther kept ahead of it as they danced around the rocky battlefield. Scythers advanced speed appearing to be too much for Geodude to keep up with.

"Keep it up Geodude, try to pin it down!" Brock commanded getting just as frustrated with all the misses.

'_Perfect, I was right rock Pok_é_mon are heavy and thus slow moving, Scyther has the advantage here' _Mason thought to himself as he smirked, "Keep dodging Scyther, get ahead of it and use Swords Dance!" he commanded.

Scyther disappeared once again as Geodude went for an attack and appeared far away this time as it crossed its blades and slashed the air, as it cried out a powerful cry.

Brock's eyes widened a fraction, "Geodude, stop attacking and use Defence Curl, they're going to attack!"

Mason smirked as he let the move go unchallenged, he knew it would do next to no good. The training he'd put Scyther through over the past five days had been hard but extremely worth it, its defences may have been lacking but his speed and power were as high as he could get them in that time. Now with Swords Dance used once, there was no chance.

"False Swipe!" Mason ordered after watching the Defence Curl finish.

Scyther nodded and blurred once again before appearing behind Geodude its bladed arms by its side as it took five steps away from the small rock Pokémon.

Geodude behind it shook for a moment before it fell to the ground with a thud on Scyther's fifth step barely still conscious as it tried to pick itself up off the ground failing to do so after the powerful attack.

Brock's eyes widened again and he held out his Pokéball, "Geodude return!" he called as he returned Geodude in a stream of red light.

"Why did you do that? Having your Pokémon use an attack that doesn't ever make the enemy Pokémon faint?" Brock asked watching Mason carefully

"Because I didn't want to cause your Pokémon any more pain than necessary. This is a gym battle, not war" Mason replied. While it was true that he could have easily ordered scyther to attack with a more powerful attack he didn't see the need. He knew Brocks personality wouldn't allow his Pokémon to continue a battle if there was no hope and would only serve to injure his Pokémon further, he truly cared for his Pokémon.

Brock nodded in respect, "I can see you are a good trainer, Mason. Caring towards Pokémon other than your own, you'll go far" he said as he took his next Pokéball off his belt, "but you first have to get by my next Pokémon, and that will be no easy task. Go Onix!" he called as he tossed his next Pokéball high and it opened mid-air and the large rock snake took to the battlefield with an intimidating roar.

Mason looked up at the large rock snake with a smirk before he held out his Pokéball, "Scyther return!" he said as he called Scyther back in a red stream of light.

Brock arched an eyebrow at the actions, "why are you switching out, Scyther didn't take any damage in that last match?"

Mason nodded, "he didn't but I don't want to leave my partner out of this match, you're sending out your best so I'm doing the same," he said as he pulled the first Pokéball from his belt and called out "Dratini, ready for battle!"

Brock's eyes actually widened fully at the sight of the small dragon Pokémon appearing on the battlefield, "A Dratini? That's a rather rare Pokémon you have there, and I can tell it's just as well trained as your Scyther. You train your Pokémon well"

Mason smirked, "thanks, but you may not be complimenting me when you lose." he said teasingly.

Brocks chuckled, "we'll see about that, Onix, don't give it a chance, use Rock Throw"

"Yraaaaaa!" Onix bellowed as it used its large body to rip rocks from the battlefield and threw them at the smaller Pokémon.

"Dratini, show them your Twister!" Mason ordered confidently.

Dratini instantly threw back its head as the energy began to pour out of it, showing the extent of its past five days training. The winds picked up instantly. A wind the strength of a small hurricane swirled around Dratini as the large rocks came at it, only to be caught by the wind and tossed in other directions. One even shattering and being torn to pieces on impact.

Brock looked on amazed at the power the small dragon was showing while Mason smirked. Dratini had been pushing himself harder and harder every day to get stronger, and it was clearly showing.

"Dratini, end this with Dragon Rage!" Mason called out as the winds began to die down.

Dratini wasted no time. As the winds began to settle it already had its energy gathered in its mouth and with a loud cry let out a large purple ball of flames and sent it hurtling at high speed towards the large rock snake.

Onix couldn't get out of the way in time and took the fireball right to the chin and was sent back before crashing to the ground from the impact of the attack, causing a small dust cloud to rise up from the landing.

Mason smirked, there had been a reason that he had wanted Dratini to learn that move before he took on this gym. In the games, Dragon rage caused a set amount of damage, which would negate Onix's insanely high defence. One hit should have been more than enough to end this, and if not, Dratini was more than capable to dish out more and he still had Scyther fresh if he needed him. Mason was more than confident in his battle strategy and the training he had put his team through to prepare them for this.

But it was clear the second the dust settled that more wasn't needed, as Onix lay still with its eyes closed, the battle was over.

Regaining his bearings from his shock, Brock raised his Pokéball and returned his Pokémon to its ball with a sigh before smirking as he looked over at Mason and began to clap. As he did so the field began to retract clearing a path for him to walk over to him.

"Very well done," Brock praised as he approached, "I definitely didn't expect that, you've trained your Pokémon very well indeed, and it's clear that they respond to you well." he said as he reached him and took out a badge from the top pocket of his vest jacket, "you've more than earned this," he said presenting Mason with the Boulder Badge.

Mason took it with a smile and nodded his head to Brock, "thank you, that was a great battle."

Brock smiled, "I should be the one saying that to you, I haven't had a battle that was that one-sided in a long time."

"Thanks, we've been training all week in preparation for it. I figured you'd be tough with all the trainers you have to battle. You didn't disappoint" Mason smirked.

"Thanks, but I really wasn't that great, especially considering we never even landed a hit, you really utilised your Pokémon's moves well to keep them from getting hurt" Brock commented.

Mason nodded, "yeah, it's a trick that I picked up from watching some other trainers," he commented, and it was true. He'd been watching a lot of battles from later in the anime series and there was so much more to it all than what could be done in the video games, attacking moves could be used as shields or deflection moves if used right, Dratinis' Twister was just one of them. They just had to be strong enough to defect stronger attacks. And this was just the start of the strategies that Mason had spent the last number of weeks working on.

"Well it definitely worked. I was right before you will definitely go far, good luck on your journey Mason," Brock said as he held out his hand.

Mason took it with a nod before he turned and walked out of the gym a smile on his face. '_One down, seven to go'_ he thought to himself as he left.

* * *

**Scene break**

As Mason entered the Pewter city Pokémon centre again he reached into the inner pocket of his coat and took out the metallic Badge case that he had purchased while he was out the first day and placed the Boulder badge inside it. He had thought about pinning them to the inside of his jacket like Ash had done in the first season of the anime but had decided against it, it looked a little unprofessional in his opinion.

Putting the case away he walked over to the phones, remembering the promise that he had made the Professor to call him after he had won his first badge and intended to keep that promise.

It was only a couple of seconds before the professors' face was on the screen after he had sat down.

"Hello my lad, how are things going? Have you challenged the Pewter gym yet?" Oak asked with a smile.

"I just got back from the battle Professor," Mason said as he took out the badge case and opened it to show the badge inside, "I won without any trouble at all."

"Splendid, I knew you'd do well. I take it that means your training has been progressing well" Oak asked with a large smile.

Mason nodded as he slipped the badge case away again, "it is. Dratini finally managed to get Dragon Rage down, on the fourth day of training. Scyther was able to learn Razor wind on the same day. Poliwags Water gun strength is getting stronger by the day, it won't be long until it learns Hydro pump, I hope. And Spearow has learned a new move that we're calling Aerial ace."

Oaks eyes seemed to bulge when he heard the last part, "A new move you say, can you describe it to me?" he asked, sounding like a kid at Christmas.

Mason nodded, "it's a high-speed aerial attack that has yet to miss. Spearow moves at high speed and gatherers energy around him that seems to let him cut through the air much faster and with force as he attacks, sort of like an airborne quick attack" he explained, it would seem that his hypothesis was correct. Later generation moves weren't known about in the earlier series, so if he was going to use them he'd have to pass them off as new moves that he'd developed in training.

Oak seemed to get more excited the more he heard, "that sounds incredible my lad, a new move like that is something that rarely comes along. This just proves that there is still so much about Pokémon that we don't know, absolutely astounding."

Mason smirked, "I'm sure that we'll discover more as time goes on, the more we train the more we'll find out"

"Indeed my lad." Oak nodded sagely, "now tell me, has Ash and Misty, managed to catch up with you yet, it's been a week now?"

Mason shook his head, "not yet Professor, but I'll be giving it three more days before I move on to the next city since I challenge the gym early I don't want to waste too much time before I head to Cerulean city next."

Oak nodded, "yes that is understandable, you can't let others slow you down when you are ready to move on," he said in agreement, "it's commendable that you've already waited as long as you have. Sacrificing your valuable travelling time as you are."

Mason nodded before glancing over to the door as it opened as a group of trainers came in and he smirked, "it won't be much of a sacrifice Professor, the beds in the centre are comfortable, and these next three days will provide me time to challenge the local trainers to battles to see about gaining some money back after buying my supplies. Plus I have some more planning to do, so it won't go to waste." he smirked.

Oak laughed, "I see, never one to waste an opportunity, a good mindset to have. Well, I won't keep you from your endeavours, I'll talk to you again soon my lad."

Mason nodded, "Thanks Professor, I'll keep you updated on any new moves that I and my team discover during training"

"Much appreciated my lad, thank you," Oak said before they ended the call.

Hanging up the receiver Mason stood up and eyed the backs of the local trainers, as they gathered in the lounge area, like a predator eyeing up his prey. Oh yes, he wasn't about to let any opportunity go to waste.

* * *

**Time Skip**

It was later in the evening as Mason relaxed in his room in the Pokémon centre. It had been a very productive day. There had been eight battles, all rather short, but nonetheless profitable.

He'd made his challenge to all of them openly. Betting half of his remaining cash in each battle as long as they could match his wager. What had proceeded after that, was an all-out beat down. As one after another, each of them had lost to his team as he proceeded to demolish them.

They hadn't even proven to be slightly challenging, and now his money problems were sorted as he had over five thousand Pokédollars in cash to keep him in the green for when he travelled to Cerulean city.

He was even considering buying himself a bike in the next city if they weren't too expensive but something was telling him that they were. But right now he had other things on his mind.

Glancing over he looked at Spearows Pokéball on the bedside table, next to the rest of his Pokéballs, he frowned. He hadn't exactly thought about it much. But he had realised during his training just some of the things he might have changed from the canon series by catching that Spearow. It was meant to play a part later in the series, and now that would change.

Mason didn't exactly care about changing the canon, he was content to just roll with it and explore the world that he had been dropped in and to have fun. To live the dream that many probably had when they watched the series.

But now he was wondering what other things he would end up changing from canon by just his presence here. Hell just the different ages of the characters could change things. He knew all about the butterfly effect and how just the smallest of changes could cause huge dramatic changes down the line, and now he was wondering if he should actively play a role in changing things or if he should just roll with the punches and continue on as he was doing. He truthfully didn't know the answer to that. At first he had wanted to try to keep things the same, like when he hadn't taken one of the starters as his own, but now if he was honest with himself, he didn't really care all that much.

So what if he changed some small things here and there. If it caused a mess later on then he'd just have to clean it up. If something was meant to happen then it would still happen, the world would sort itself out.

Though he did have is mind set on trying to mature Ash some. Honestly, he had finished rewatching the first season during his stay at the watchers' hut and he found himself wanting to scream.

Out of all the badges in the first region, Ash had only properly earned about half of them, the rest he had gotten out of luck or sympathy. It was no wonder his Charizard didn't listen to him when it mattered the most in the semi-finals of the Pokémon league. It was meant to be his ace in the whole, his strongest Pokémon but with only four, legitimate, badges.

There was no way it would listen to him, especially after he considered how it had treated it right after evolving. Ash was a clueless nitwit and Mason planned to give him a hard lesson to get him on track and make him realise that if he wanted to be a proper trainer he'd have to put in some work.

He was half tempted to go ahead of Ash when that happened and save Charmander himself and get him on his team. But he nixed that idea immediately, Charizard played too much of an integral part of Ash's team in the early generations and later on, taking it for himself could really mess things up.

Plus he wanted Ash as his rival, after all, an actual proper challenge would have been nice, taking Charizard from him would completely toss that out the window. True he could go after Gary, and probably still would, but he knew Gary flaked out to become a Professor like his grandfather later down the line. And there was no way he was going to wait until he got to Sinnoh for Paul to become his rival, that was ten whole seasons away, screw that shit.

Mason smirked, having Ash as his rival would be interesting later on when he actually started to take things seriously. But for now, he was getting ahead of himself. He still had seven more gym badges here in Kanto to collect and then there would be the whole Indigo league to face. So those would be his goals for the time being.

One. Make Ash take his job as a trainer seriously so that he would have some good competition in the future.

Two. collect all next seven Kanto gym badges and enter the indigo league.

Three. Mop the floor with all the competition and top the league.

And while doing all that he would enjoy his travels, build and train his team into badasses, and generally enjoying life as a trainer on the road. Rince, lather, repeat for the next number of leagues…. Yep, that sounded like a good plan to him.

* * *

**Time Skip**

It was three days later when Mason was just coming out of his room and walking to the main entrance hall of the Pokémon centre. He had finished his training for the morning and was planning to spend the next couple hours relaxing.

He knew that Ash and Misty were more than lightly going to arrive later that day. So it was a bit of a shock when he walked out to find them both standing just inside the door in front of the poster that was advertising the Indigo Pokémon league.

"Can you do that Ash?" Mason heard Misty teasing him, doubting he had what it took.

"Of course I can, you just watch!" Ash rebuffed annoyed at her tone.

Mason arched an eyebrow, apparently, ten days in the forest hadn't done their attitudes much good, they were both still arguing like children.

"Ha-ha-ha" a dry chuckle from a man walking over to the pair and Mason glanced to the man he instantly knew was Flint, Brocks dead beat of a father who failed as a trainer and didn't have the balls to come home and admit it, "Don't tell me you actually plan on facing Brock? Funny joke kid."

Mason smirked as he walked over, "yeah real funny, he could beat him alright, maybe in a few years" he said announcing himself, "what took you so long, I've been waiting here ten days for you two to find your way out of that forest?"

"Mason?" Misty said shocked as she looked at him not recognising him at first, "is that you?" she asked looking at him in his new clothes.

Mason smirked, "Yep, finally got a chance to do some clothes shopping, you like?"

"I'll say, you really clean up good." Misty complimented him before Ash butted in.

"And just what is that supposed to mean "a few years" if he's so tough why don't you face him then." Ash challenged him his fists clenched by his side.

Mason just smirked as he fished his badge case out of his inside pocket, "I did," he said as he opened it, showing the single badge inside it, "I challenged him and won three days ago, I've been waiting around for you two to catch up before I moved on," he explained.

Flint seemed to gawk seeing the badge, "Impressive, not many trainers who are from around these parts can beat Brock, you must be a pretty good trainer," he commented.

Mason nodded as he slipped his badge case away, "I am," he said before looking over to Ash, "I trained, and strategized, for seven days straight until I was confident enough that my team could handle a gym battle."

"Oh wow, you must have been training pretty hard if you were able to challenge and win inside a week" Misty praised clearly impressed.

Mason nodded, "twice a day, for four hours each session, my team has improved a lot in a week" he smirked, "I played to my Pokémons strengths, improving their best qualities and learned some new moves that won it for us" he said before looking to Ash, "if you plan to face Brock I suggest that you train. As you are now… he'll mop the floor with you without even trying." he said before turning to walk towards the door, hoping that that would be enough to light a fire under Ash's butt to get him to take things seriously.

* * *

**Time Skip**

When Mason returned from his little stroll around the city to relax, he found both Ash and Misty in the cafeteria having lunch, but neither had spotted him come in.

"I can't believe that Flint, and Mason, thinking that I can't win a battle" Ash growled as he ate his rice.

"But Mason does have a point, Ash, Gym leaders are much tougher than your average trainer, they face multiple battles a day, they have to be strong to challenge people who want their badges." Misty countered before taking a drink, "Just look at how hard Mason had to train before he finally challenges for the badge. It sounds like he put in a lot of work before he finally thought himself ready."

"But that's him, he's been here all this time, while I've been out in the forest, I bet he hasn't even faced one other trainer other than that Gym leader, I'm way tougher than him" Ash stated, "I could win in that gym no problem. I mean come on, we both became trainers on the exact same day, he can't be better than me."

Mason's fists were clenched by his side, he'd heard enough. "Is that a fact." Mason stated as he announced himself, "you think you're better than me? Then tell me this, how many books on Pokémon have you read? How many hours did you spend studying the Pokémon you were going to train? How many hours have you spent in intense training with your Pokémon since you got them, and I don't mean just making them train, I mean actually actually getting into exercising yourself? How many battles have you won. Pokémon you have caught? Because I can bet that I've got done more in every part of that than you."

Ash stood up, "for your information I didn't read any books, I watched documentaries on the television," he said as he puffed up his chest, "and I've won my fair share of battles, I defeated a samurai trainer in the forest, you just weren't there to see it."

Misty burst out giggling when the samurai battle was mentioned, "you may have one the first round on pure luck, but then you two idiots pitted Metapod against Metapod, and that battle had no real winner, it went on for hours"

Ash grumbled at that before glaring at Mason, "and as for Pokémon I now have three, just as many as you have, so you can't be a better trainer than me."

Mason glared at him, "actually I now have four Pokémon, I caught one on the way out of the forest. And all of them are better trained than yours. Evident by my single gym badge to your none." he stated firmly.

"Did you use Poliwag in the battle with Brock?" Misty asked curiously.

Mason shook his head, "I didn't, I wanted to win without a type advantage, and I did"

Misty whistled impressed, "well that settles it," she said before turning to Ash, "he's a much better trainer than you are."

"No, he's not." Ash snapped as he slammed his hands on the table, "I was able to evolve my Caterpie into a Butterfree in two days. I bet none of his Pokémon are as strong as mine. I'm the better trainer."

Mason sighed, "There's one simple way to settle this matter to determine who the better trainer is," he said before pointing his finger at Ash, "I challenge you to a Pokémon battle, three on three, since that's all you have, and to make things interesting, I say we make a wager on the battle. That after out battle, the loser has to pay for the next three meals all three of us have," he challenged knowing there was no way Ash would turn down the chance to battle or the added incentive of three free meals out of it, besides it would only help his pocketbook.

Misty smirked, "fine by me, I get free meals, either way, ~" she chirped happily, pleased that Mason had included her in their little bet.

"You're on!" Ash said as he stepped out from behind the table

"Good, let's go!" Mason said as he turned and began to lead Ash the front of the Pokémon centre with Misty following them both, oh he was looking forward to this.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5-**

**Beat down and traveling**

Mason lead Ash out to the front of the Pokémon centre where there was a large open space. Ash stopped several meters away from the front of the door and Mason continued forward, putting a fair bit of distance between them before he turned and gave Ash a hard glare showing he was taking this seriously, something that Ash tried to return.

Misty walked over to the side giving them a lot of space for their battle.

"Don't be too hard on him Mason," Misty called looking forward to seeing this battle.

That was when passers-by started to take notice and many stopped to watch the battle that was about to begin. The trainers that Mason had beaten three days before happened to be passing by as well and stopped to watch.

"Yo, you don't want to battle this guy, he'll mop the floor with you" one of them called to Ash.

"Just give up now, or you're gonna get creamed" another added making Ash clench his teeth in anger at how everyone was telling him he was going to lose.

Mason just smirked at the scene but knew that Ash wasn't going to back down, not with both his pride and free meals on the line.

"Shut up, I can beat him!" Was Ash's retort as he reached for his Pokéball from his belt.

The trainers just shrugged, "Oh well,", "We tried to warn him,", "His funeral" they muttered to themselves as Ash tossed his Pokéball into the air.

The Pokéball opened wide and Pidgeotto flew out taking to the air and doing a loop before coming around and flapping its wings, sending up a slight gust of wind that caught the bottom of Mason's coat causing it to flap as he stood there smirking.

"I see you got a good catch in the forest Ash. That Pidgeotto looks impressive," he said as he took his third Pokéball from his belt and sized it up, "but looks aren't important in Pokémon battles," he said before tossing his own ball into the air, "Spearow, ready for battle!" he called as the ball opened and Spearow soared out of the ball and took to the skies with much more speed than Pidgeotto.

"It doesn't matter we'll still win this. Pidgeotto is way stronger than your Spearow, show them Pidgeotto, use whirlwind!" Ash called out as Pidgeotto began to whip up a strong wind as it beat its wings hard towards Mason and Spearow.

Mason sighed, "Spearow dodge it, go straight up and get above Pidgeotto!" he commanded as Spearow obeyed and shot up with speed avoiding the winds like they weren't even there and shot high into the sky above Pidgeotto.

"What the!" Ash said eyes wide barely able to follow Spearows movements as he looked up.

"What speed," Misty commented from the sidelines in awe.

Mason chuckled, "Spearow, show them what a real flying-type move can do, Aerial ace, on repeat!" Mason called out the command knowing this would end it before it got started. It was a combo that they had been practising as one of his strategies.

While the rules of a Pokémon battle said that trainers have to take a turn about giving out commands there's nothing to say that the moves can't be repeated. Sure it came with its risks but Mason was confident that at this moment that Spearow was in the clear.

As soon as the command was given Spearows eyes glinted as it eyed Pidgeotto and took off into a nosedive and shot down with high speed as its energy gathered around it and it shot past the larger bird Pokémon. Its attack hitting its mark before Spearow turned sharply in midair and attacked again, and again and again, as the bombardment of attacks repeated over and over the repeating attacks hitting their mark each time. It was only after the fifth shot that Pidgeotto finally fainted before falling to the ground its eyes swirling as its wings layout by its side spread eagle.

"Pidgeotto!" Ash called unable to comprehend what he had just seen, Spearow had been so fast, Pidgeotto couldn't do anything against the smaller bird Pokémon.

"Unbelievable," Misty said her eyes wide as she watched from the sidelines.

Spearow flew to Mason after its attack finished, who had his arm stretched out for Spearow to land on as he brought the small bird Pokémon in to gently stroke its feathers, "Good job Spearow, very well done" he praised the small bird who seemed to preen under his praise.

Mason's eyes went to Ash as he returned Pidgeotto, "That is what intense speed and manoeuvring training can do Ash. From what I can tell, you caught that Pokémon already evolved. You have no idea of its capabilities or overall experience, that's the trouble with catching already evolved Pokémon. It may seem like a great idea, but if you don't learn what the Pokémon's capabilities are before you use it in battle, you won't be able to command it to the best of its abilities" Mason said as he brought up Spearows Pokéball and returned the small bird to its ball.

Ash was gritting his teeth in anger as he put Pidgeotto's ball away, "We'll show you, go Butterfree!" he called as he took another ball from his belt and tossed it into the air as it opened and the rather beautiful butterfly Pokémon came out.

Mason sighed as he returned Spearows Pokéball to his belt and took up the fourth ball, "Have it your way then, you'll just have to learn the hard way," he said before tossing the other ball out, "Scyther, ready for battle!"

As Scyther appeared from its ball with its blades at the ready, the gathered crowd began to gasp and mutter at the sight of the rare and strong looking Pokémon. Ash pointed his finger, "when did you get that!" Amazement and confusion in his voice as he looked in awe at the mantis Pokémon.

Mason smirked, "On my way out of the Viridian forest, when I was out looking for a bug Pokémon to add to my team, found him in a clearing, or rather he found me" Mason said with a grin, "he's actually one of the two I used in my battle at the Pewter gym, won his fight without even a scratch on him. You're about to see the difference between out training methods Ash."

Ash growled, "yeah we are, go Butterfree put that thing to sleep with Sleep Powder!" He ordered as Butterfree took off towards Scyther as the shimmering green dust began to fall from its wings.

"As if we'd allow such a simple and direct attack," Mason said with annoyance in his tone, "Scyther up into the air and avoid the powder!"

Scyther obeyed and in a second its wings were out as it flew up into the air shot behind Butterfree with speed.

"What!" Ash said in shock clearly not understanding how outclassed his Pokémon was.

"It's fast too," Misty said from the side of the area as she and the crowd watched on.

"Scyther, end this with False swipe!" Mason ordered and Scyther complied. Its bladed arms a blur as it moved with speed as it shot passed the delicate butterfly Pokémon and landed on the ground.

Butterfree stilled in the air as Scyther landed before soundlessly falling to the ground as it was greatly damaged from the attack, but regardless of that it slowly started to get up struggling to do so.

Ash smirked, "Ha, it's not that strong, Butterfree can still go on!" he said stupidly only to get glares from some of the trainers and other watching on, as Misty facepalmed.

"Ash you idiot, False swipe is a move that will never make a Pokémon faint in battle, Mason used it so as not to cause Butterfree any real damage!" Misty yelled at the clueless idiot.

"Wha… hu?" Ashed stated confused before looking to Mason as he recalled is Scyther.

"Of course I don't want to cause your Pokémon any real damage Ash, this isn't meant to hurt them," Mason stated coldly, "it's meant as a wake-up call for you, their trainer, to get your head out of your ass and start acting like a real trainer."

"I am a real trainer!" Ash responded angrily.

"Bullshit!" Mason snapped, "no you're not, your just a kid acting like a trainer. You claim that you want to be a Pokémon master but you don't want to put the work in. You claim to be the better of the two of us, but yet look at how I'm trouncing your sorry ass all through this battle. You need a reality check, and I'm going to be the one to give it to you, even if that means I have to thrash you in this match so bad that it hurts to watch" he stated as he reached to his belt and unclipped his first ball and sized it up, "Now come on, this is a match of three, let's finish this!"

With that Mason tossed his ball out between them with a call of, "Dratini, Ready for battle!" as the ball opened and his small dragon partner took the field with a cry of "Dratini!"

The crowd hummed and haad, at the sight of the rare dragon Pokémon as Ash clenched his fists in anger, "Fine then, Pikachu let's go!" he called as Pikchue ran out to face Dratini.

Mason hardened his gaze as he looked at the matchup, inside he was conflicted on how to proceed. He wanted to smack Ash around the head and make him grow up already to take things seriously, but obviously, the other teen was too thick-headed to get the message. He didn't want to go all out against Pikachu, he had enjoyed watching the small Pokémon and Ash travel as a kid but he knew he would have to if he wanted any chance at getting through to Ash.

"Pikachu, use thundershock!" Ash ordered seeing that Mason wasn't taking the first attack.

Mason remained silent and simply watched as Pikachu released the electrical attack on Dratini who didn't move at the attack hit him square on.

The crowd gasped and Ash grinned when he finally landed an attack but that grin faded as the attack stopped to reveal Dratini looking completely unharmed. "What?"

Mason scowled, "Do you honestly think that an attack of that strength is even going to phase my Dratini after the amount of training we've put in?" Mason stated firmly, "I haven't just been having my Pokémon train by themselves. Every hour in our training sessions I have them take a five-minute break before sparing with each other, swapping sparring partners every ten minutes to help them build up their battle experience. They train with each other and grow stronger evenly. Your Pikachu's attack in comparison to any of my Pokémons attacks is nothing" Mason stated coldly, "and you're about to see that strength right now, Dratini, use Twister, launch Pikachu straight up!"

Dratini nodded before once more letting out a cry as its eyes began to glow and the winds whipped around it and shot at Pikachu in full force catching the small yellow Pokémon and tossing it skyward on Dratini's command.

"Wha, Pikachu!" Ash said as he watched his partner get tossed into the air.

"And now we end this, Dragon Rage!" Mason commanded his tone as cold as steel.

Hearing that Ash's eyes widened, "Pikachu, try to counter it with thundershock!" he called up desperately.

Dratini's eyes stopped glowing as it gathered the energy in its mouth as the purple flames grew. Pikchue started charging electricity as it began falling and they both released their attacks at the same time, but the difference in power was clear for all to see.

The dragon rage shot skyward and met the electrical current and was barely phased as it continued to its target, both Ash and Pikachu's eyes were wide as it made contact. Pikachu let out a cry as the impact of the attack caused a small explosion in mid-air covering Pikachu in smoke. The crowd let out a gasp at the power of the attack before Pikachu broke through the cloud of smoke as it began to fall again.

"Pikachu!" Ash yelled as he ran forward to catch his partner in his arms before he hit the ground.

Misty worried also ran over to check on Pikachu and Ash as the small electrical Pokémon was knocked out in his arms.

Mason let out a sigh as he slowly walked forward and knelt by Dratini and gently stroked its head, "Sorry you had to be that rough with him buddy, but Ash needed this wake-up call. He needs to take being a trainer seriously if he'd going to get better"

Dratini looked up to Mason and gave a nod and a little "Dra" as he nudged his hand with his head.

Mason smirked, "thanks buddy," he said before he took out his Pokéball and returned his partner to it before standing up and walking over to Ash, Misty and Pikachu.

Ash was cradling Pikachu in his arms worry evident on his face, Misty was looking concerned also, and Mason couldn't help but feel bad. "Here," he said as he reached into one of the pockets on his pants and took out a super potion, "this should help," he said as he gently began applying the super potion to Pikachu.

It was only a couple of sprays but it was almost instantly that Pikachu began to recover and once the bottle was empty Pikachu was looking as good as new.

"Ah, Pikachu," Ash said as he hugged his partner.

Misty smiled at the scene before looking to Mason, "that was nice of you," she said with a warm smile.

Mason nodded, "Of course," he said before looking to Ash, "I meant what I said before, this battle wasn't out of malice, no matter how rough I was being with your Pokémon. It was meant as a wake-up call for you Ash. I did it to get my point across to you. We'll both be taking on the league challenge, that means we'll be battling against trainers with a lot more experience than us. We're talking hundreds if not thousands of battles under their belts, who specialise in their types of Pokémon. If you want any chance of winning those badges," '_Properly' _Mason mentally added, "then you are going to have to train and work for them, you'll need to study, plan and train. You can't just wing it and hope for the best, otherwise you're just going to get your ass handed to you, a lot worse than what I just gave you, and your Pokémon will be the ones paying for your stupidity and laziness. They won't hold back like I just did." he stated.

Ash only just nodded as he looked down, his hat shading his eyes as he listened to Mason's words.

Misty looked between them and smiled a little sadly as she heard saw how Ash was taking this all in and gave him a nudge, "I hope you've learned a valuable lesson here Ash, Mason's only trying to help you."

After a moment Ash looked up and Mason could see the fire in his eyes as he nodded, "Yeah, thanks Mason, that was a good battle. I think I'm going to train more from now on to become as strong as you are, and plan before going into a battle, if I just go in without a plan my Pokémon will just get hurt."

Mason smirked and nodded, happy that Ash was at least starting to show some proper determination, though he wasn't sure how long that would last for, "good, and hopefully you learned one more thing from this…" he said with a grin as he slapped Ash on the shoulder, "not to make stupid bets, you now owe me and Misty our next three meals, I hope you can afford it~" he said cheerfully as Ash face planted on the ground and Misty giggled. Apparently, in the heat of the battle, Ash had forgotten about the bet they had made.

* * *

**Time skip**

It was the next day that both Mason and Ash stood next to each other smiling as they watched their Pokémon train together out in the training area the Pokémon centre had for trainers to use. Mason had taken some time the evening after their battle to come up with a training plan for Ash's Pokémon to work on along with another that they could work on alongside his own so they could all benefit.

Spearow and Pidgeotto were having mid-air combat practice dodging the others attacks in between doing laps to build their speed and stamina. Spearow had the upper hand but Pidgeotto wasn't slacking and was doing everything it could to keep up with the smaller bird as they flew high above, Spearows smaller form allowing it to turn faster as they followed a specific course that Mason had set out beforehand.

Butterfree was training with Poliwag and they were training just as Poliwag and Spearow had been training in the days before Mason had challenged the gym, with Butterfree dodging Poliwags water guns, though Mason could tell that Poliwag was holding back a lot given how slowly he was firing his attacks to give Butterfree a chance to dodge them.

Scyther, Dratini and Pikachu were all over at the target area each training to increase the power of their attacks, Dratini with Dragon rage, Pikachu with Thundershock and Scyther with Vacuum wave, the attacks pounding away at the heavy-duty sheet metal as they kept at it.

And that wasn't all Mason had planned, he had planned out an obstacle course for Pikachu to help with his speed, and a flying exercise sets for both Butterfree and Pidgeotto to help them both for when they needed to change it up.

Ash was grinning, "this is awesome, keep it up guys!" he called to his Pokémon, at first he had been reluctant to join Mason in his training but after he had explained everything out and how each exercise would help his Pokémon improve he had decided to go along with it, the crushing defeat he had suffered through the day before still fresh in his mind.

Mason smirked before he walked over to a bag that he had brought out and lifted a pair of something out of it, "hey Ash, think fast!" he called and tossed them to him.

Ash turned when his name was called and caught what was tossed at him before looking down confused at the pair of boxing gloves in his hands, "what are these.." he began to ask before he gave a yelp and ducked as Mason threw a right hook towards him, wearing a pair of gloves of his own.

"You didn't think it was only the Pokémon that trained during training, did you? If you want to command your Pokémons respect you have to show them that you are with them through everything, that includes training." Mason said as Ash hurried to get the gloves on, "when they are improving themselves, so are you" he added before throwing another punch that Ash dodged again as he fumbled with his gloves and Mason capitalised.

* * *

**Time skip**

Ash groaned as he held a bag of ice to his jaw as he gave Mason a death glare across the table from him as the other boy took a drink from a bottle of water.

Misty giggled, "you sure did a number on him," she said before smirking to Ash, "Bet you're glad that those gloves were padded, hm~" she teased only to get a death glare of her own in response.

Mason smirked as he stopped drinking, "it was a good first days training, Ash just needs to work on his guard a bit more and stop being so predictable with where he's dodging to" he smirked.

"You didn't have to hit so hard," Ash said with a wince from his jaw, his ears still ringing.

"No pain, no gain," Mason just commented back before taking another sip of water, "I expect you to keep this training up on your own, tomorrow after I leave."

"You're leaving already?" Misty asked a little disappointment seeping through in her tone.

Mason nodded, "Yeah, I've only been hanging around to wait on you two, I was going to leave yesterday but then I decided to stick around and help Ash get started. Now that that's done I need to be hitting the road. I'll be leaving first thing tomorrow morning, bound for Cerulean city and a battle with The Three Sensational Sisters" he said knowing that would get Misty's attention.

And it did, Misty seemed to stiffen slightly at the mention of the sisters but Ash completely missed it and asked, "Who are they?"

Mason smirked as he relaxed back in his seat, "The Sensational Sisters are the gym leaders in Cerulean city, they are meant to be water Pokémon specialists, or at least that's what I've heard," he explained, "I don't know how one gym can have three gym leaders but I'll be looking forward to finding out when I battle them."

"Do you have to go so soon? We only just caught back up with you," Misty asked trying to ignore the talk about her sisters.

Mason shook his head, "I've spent enough time here, I need to be moving on. If I want to keep getting stronger I can't stay stagnant for too long" he said with a sigh, "but don't worry, I'll hang about Cerulean city for a few days and give you two a chance to catch up, but don't expect me to wait forever."

"I'll just have to train hard and beat this Brock quickly then won't I," Ash said with a grin only to wince again from the pain in his jaw.

Mason smirked, "Don't go challenging him too soon, you still need more training," he warned honestly, he knew Ash was nowhere near ready for beating Brock yet.

Misty smirked, "don't worry, I'll make sure he sticks to his training, he won't slack off with me around"

Mason sighed and nodded, "good, but make sure to pace yourself, Ash. Remember it's not a race, and you never know, I could get swept at the next gym and need to take another week to train before I can beat the sisters. So take as long as you need, don't go putting your Pokémon in a tight spot just because you tried to rush things."

Ash just nodded and Mason got up from the table, "well I'm going to go take a shower now, I'll catch you two around" he said before standing up and leaving them to their business as he went to his room.

* * *

**Time skip**

It was early the next morning as Mason left his room, his tech bag on his back and a medium-sized gym bag slung over his right shoulder, as Dratini lay across his left nestled against his neck, a position the small dragon had begun taking over the past couple of days whenever it was out of its Pokéball and not doing anything else. Mason didn't see anything wrong with it and so had decided to let Dratini stay out for when he was travelling on his own to give him company while on the road.

As he approached the front door of the Pokémon centre ready to take his leave he paused as he heard footsteps behind him and turned to see Misty coming out of the corridor where the bedrooms were.

"I just came to see you off," Misty said as she stood with one of the centres dressing gowns pulled closed over what looked to be a loose t-shirt and pyjama shorts that showed off her lovely legs that Mason had to keep himself from looking at, "chances are it will be a while before we catch up, Ash needs a lot of work."

Mason smirked, "True, but with you making sure that he's putting some effort into things it may go a lot quicker," he said with a smile, "I'll be sure to tell your sisters that you said hello"

That made Misty tense and swallow, "hm, w-what do you mean, s-sisters?" she asked as she looked a little worried.

Mason gave her a friendly smile, "I'm not as slow as Ash is Misty, I figured it out. There aren't many trainers around these parts that specialise in just one type of Pokémon" he explained, "Plus I've heard all about the four Waterflower sisters. I'm assuming that's why you left your hometown to journey alone? To get out of your older sisters shadows?"

Misty seemed to frown before she sighed, "Yes, growing up, everyone always talked about how beautiful my sisters were, how skilled they were and how talented they were. I could never compete with them. I was the youngest, always thought of last, if at all. I would never be as beautiful as them or ever match up to them in skill." she said her voice shaking a little as she talked about her sisters.

"That's not true," Mason said back in retort his voice hard with certainty. He had never liked how Misty had always been treated like a side act in comparison to her air-head sisters, in truth he wanted to spend as short a time in Cerulean city as possible, he detested bimbos like them. It was true they may have been good looking but that was only skin deep as far as he was concerned. "I may have never met your sisters, but I have met you. I don't care how beautiful or skilled they may be, as far as I'm concerned you're ten times better in every way that they could ever be."

Misty looked at Mason in shock before turning her head away in an attempt to hide a blush that spread across her cheeks at how he spoke about her, "Y-You think so?"

Mason nodded with a smile, "I know so. Don't doubt yourself misty, you're better than that." he said getting a cry of "Dra!" from Dratini on his shoulder in agreement.

Misty nodded still blushing, "thanks Mason, that… that means a lot" she said not daring to look at him, never having anyone talk about her like that before.

Mason smirked, "I'm only speaking the truth," he said before turning, "anyway, I'll see you and Ash in Cerulean City. I expect to see big improvements in him by the time you two catch up" he said as the doors opened.

Misty smirked as she looked at him walk away, "Don't worry, I'll whip that slacker into shape." she said as a fire burned in her eyes.

Mason chuckled as he continued walking, "I pity him already!" he called back as the doors of the centre closed.

Misty stood there looking at the doors for a few moments more, her smile still on her lips as Mason's words still rung in her ears. He had such confidence in her, such faith. She wouldn't let him down. Turning she walked back toward the bedrooms as the smile she had settled into something more soft and content as she went back to get a couple more hours of sleep before beginning Ash's torture…. Training session.

* * *

**Scene break**

After leaving the centre it took Mason another four hours before he finally found the next stop on his journey. MT Moon. It wasn't as big as Mason had expected it to be from the anime. Then again he didn't know what to expect.

The mountain was nothing more than an oversized hill, definitely not mountain material. Sure it was covered in trees and had steep ridges that would make it next to impossible to cross over without the right kind of training and gear, but it wasn't all that big.

He had found the entrance to the cave rather easily enough, with the path leading up to it through the trees it wasn't that difficult to spot after finally reaching the area.

As he approached the cave entrance he sighed with relief. He wasn't seeing any Pokémon in distress or any signs of lights inside the cave system. He knew that in the anime by the time that Ash, Brock and Misty came around this part of their journey that Team Rocket had found the cave and had begun their whole operation to find the rare and valuable moonstones inside the cave, stringing lights up all over the inside of the cave and causing all sorts of trouble for the Pokémon inside.

Mason had to sigh grateful that he wouldn't have to deal with those idiots himself, and even more grateful that it appeared that he wouldn't be meeting that weirdo scientist Seymour, the representation of him in the anime annoyed him so he was pretty sure he didn't want to meet his real-life counterpart.

Looking into the cave once more he saw that it was pretty dark inside, it was a good thing he wasn't really afraid of the dark or of confined spaces, otherwise, this was going to be annoying.

Kneeling he slung his second bag off his shoulder and took out a flashlight, grateful that he had gotten it ahead of time before coming here and flicked it on as he began to make his way into and through the cave system of MT Moon.

As Mason walked he began to think to himself, wondering if he had done the right thing back at the centre by beating Ash like that. Had he been right to do so. Yes, the idiot needed his head pulled out of his ass and given a dose of reality. But Mason was more concerned about what the possible repercussions of that battle could be. He'd only just thought about it the last evening before he went to sleep.

If Ash really did take his advice and train properly, while that may have been good for him right then it could cause problems later, if he was able to beat Brock on his first try then Brock wouldn't be likely to join up with Ash on his journey, and if that was the case then Ash was really screwed, Brock was the brains of that trio. Perverted perhaps. But still.

Mason let out a sigh, he could worry about that later. If the universe wanted Brock to travel with Ash and later to achieve his dreams then it would still happen some way or another. He couldn't be worrying about that now.

'_Right now I have more important things to worry about.'_ Mason thought to himself as he stopped as he aimed his light ahead showing the path that split into three directions. "Like how the hell to navigate this cave."

* * *

**Time skip**

It was another fourteen hours later that Mason finally came stumbling out of the other side of MT Moon and fell to his knees as he held his hands up towards the sun, "Freedom!" he cried overdramatically.

Never again will he decide to critique a place before going into it, that place was hell. Every tunnel looked the same, he suspected he had even backtracked several times. He was just grateful that his flashlight didn't die on him otherwise he would have been screwed.

After basking in the sun for five minutes Mason slowly got to his feet with a relieved sigh as he looked up at the sun again that he could see was slowly beginning to set and rubbed the back of his head, "that took a lot longer than I thought it would," he said to Dratini as she small dragon nodded in agreement.

"Come on we need to get a move on, we might still be able to make it to the Cerulean Pokémon centre before nightfall," he said as he began to walk down the path from the cave that connected to a road lower down, just because he had a sleeping bag and a tent now didn't mean he wanted to use them unless he had to.

As he reached the road he noticed a sign that said "Cerulean City" with an arrow pointing down the road and below it a familiar piece of graffiti that Mason remembered from the anime.

"Garry was here. Ash is a loser." Mason recited aloud reading out the written words and smirked before shaking his head.

'_Garry hit the nail on the head with that comment'_ Mason thought to himself as he shook his head. If Ash remained true to the canon, then odds are good that he'd have given up on his training, challenged Brock, and lost already. And was likely with Flint right now at that old water mill outside of the city giving Pikachu a power boost so that he could hurt Onyx. Which Mason still called bullshit on.

It still really pissed him off that Ash got half of his Gym badges in the anime just handed to him for moral lessons or other bullshit reasons. But then again the show was for kids back then.

Looking back to the sign Mason smirked to himself before reaching into one of his pockets and took out a marker of his own, 'may at least leave Ash a message of my own' he thought to himself as he wrote, "So was Mason, hurry up Ashly, don't be a slowpoke now!"

He grinned to himself as he put the marker away, "that should give Ash the proper motivation to get moving, don't ya think?"

Dratini gave a small cry of "Dra!" from his shoulder in agreement as they began to walk toward the city in the distance.

As they did so, Mason's smile turned to a frown as he looked at the city in the distance, one particular thought on his mind. Misty's sisters.

'_If they are anything like they are in the anime, they're going to be complete airheads, more concerned with their looks and their little water show of theirs rather than the actual battling portion of their gym and actually just be giving their gyms badges away to any trainer with a Pokémon who makes a challenge'_ Mason thought with a scowl. He didn't like that not one bit.

How they were even allowed to keep their gym licence was beyond him, he was pretty sure that if the league got wind of their actions then they'd be fired as gym leaders for a stunt like that, second gym or not.

As they walked Mason tried to think of what he could do. If they were sorry excuses for gym leaders like he expected then he'd have to hold off on actually challenging the gym, at least until Misty got there so he could say he had earned his badge. Just taking a badge didn't sit right with him, not in the slightest.

'Looks like we'll have a lot more time to train than I thought' Mason thought to himself. He was going to have to think of some way to keep himself occupied as well as training while he was waiting for Ash…

At that thought he paused in his steps before grinning, he knew just how to pass the time. With any luck, he should only have to wait a couple of days, if his guess about Ash dumping training was right. Though that would also mean that he'd end up travelling with him and Misty after beating the Cerulean gym, at least for a while.

He didn't have a problem with that, it wouldn't take long for him to break off on his own again, he knew Ash would have trouble down the line while he could just move off on his own again.

With his plan now in mind Mason picked up his pace and started to head towards the city with renewed vigour, he had a phone call to make.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6-**

**A real battle, welcome to the world**

It was the next day that Mason awoke with a loud yawn and a stretch as he climbed out of one of the comfortable beds in the Cerulean City Pokémon centre. He had made it there the evening prior with no problems and had managed a full dinner before going to bed thanking his lucky stars that he had made it out of the cave as fast as he had and hadn't had to camp out.

After a quick shower and a change of clothing. Mason saw himself down to the cafeteria of the Pokémon centre and after dishing out his teams' breakfast he sat down to a healthy breakfast himself, along with a large mug of dark coffee to help wake himself up.

He was just finishing his breakfast and pouring himself a second cup when the doors to the cafeteria opened and a familiar-sounding voice filled the air, laced with arrogance.

"So are you the guy my grandpa told me about, you don't look so tough"

* * *

**Flashback**

The streetlights were just coming on in Cerulean city as Mason finally made it to the Pokémon centre, relieved to finally be there after such a long walk.

Making his way inside Mason made his way over to the phone and made his call back to Pallet Town and Professor Oak's Lab, as the old Professor appeared on the screen once more.

"Ah Mason my lad, I didn't expect to be hearing from you for a few more days, is something wrong?" the old professor asked.

Mason shook his head, "no nothing's wrong professor, just calling to keep you up to date and to ask a favour if it's possible. I've only just reached Cerulean city after leaving Pewter just this morning, Ash and Misty caught back up with me, and after setting Ash straight and finally getting him to start training properly. I decided it was time to move on." he informed him.

"My, you're making good headway aren't you, already at Cerulean you say," Oak said sounding rather impressed, "it's good to hear that Ash finally caught up with you. I was beginning to worry about that boy, but how did you manage to get him to train, his mother and I tried when he was younger to try to get him to study more but that boy always seemed to prefer watching battles than reading any of the books we gave him."

Mason shook his head, "I had to make him see that things weren't going to be as easy as he hoped. I faced him in a Pokémon battle and beat him badly. I think that might have done the trick to get him to take things seriously from now on, but I'm not holding my breath. If he makes it here before the week is out then I'll know he didn't stick to proper training."

Oak seemed to nod solemnly hearing how Mason tried to get through to Ash, "I appreciate the effort lad, but I fear that Ash may be too stubborn for his own good. That may not be the last time you have to do that" he sighed before changing the subject, "now, you mentioned you needed to ask me a favour, how can I help my lad"

Mason nodded in agreement as he feared the same but decided to leave it to the future to worry about Ash, he wasn't there right now and so wasn't his top priority. "On the way here to Cerulean I came across a sign that had a signature on it and a message for Ash, I was wondering if you knew who Gary, would be?"

Oak groaned, "I do. He's my grandson, he has a bit of an attitude problem some times. What did the message say?" he said asking that last with a little bit of worry.

""Gary was here. Ash is a loser."" Mason recited with a small smirk as Oak groaned and shook his head on the other end of the line, "Anyway, my favor was that I was hoping you could tell me where exactly Gary was now, I've been itching for a good battle to keep my skills sharp for the gym, that is if Gary isn't all talk."

Oak seemed to get pensive at that as he thought for a moment, "let me see, the last I heard from him, he was leaving Vermilion city after getting his third badge there." he said thinking, "if you are sure, I have his number and I could call him for you to arrange for him to make a stop in Cerulean to battle you, I'm sure he wouldn't turn down the challenge."

Mason's eyes seemed to spark with excitement at the idea of facing a trainer who had already beaten the gym after this, "that would be great Professor. If you could tell him to come on by the Pokémon centre in Cerulean that would be great"

* * *

**Flash back end**

And sure enough, when Mason looked up from his second coffee, there standing in the door was Gary Oak, a confident almost smug smile on his face as he and Mason's eyes met as they seemed to weigh each other up.

After a moment a smile just like Gary's came to Mason's face, "that would be me, I take it you're Gary Oak then?" he asked just for politeness as he stood up from his seat coffee cup in hand.

"The one and only" Gary responded, "My gramps called me and told me a "promising" trainer was looking to challenge me and that it would be worth my time to accept" he said before glancing over to Mason's Pokémon who were finishing their food, "I can see he was right, that's a really diverse team you have there, they look well trained, and some really rare Pokémon, a Scyther and a Dratini. Where'd you get them?"

Mason smirked as he walked around the table and began to approach Gary, "thanks. Scyther I caught in Viridian forest on my way to Pewter, and Dratini is my starter, I hatched him from an egg that your grandfather gave me." he explained.

"Tch." Garry clicked his teeth, "I should have known the old man was holding back on me like that, a rare Pokémon like that tucked away and not even a word to me" he muttered shaking his head, "So you ready to battle or what? I'm a busy guy."

Mason smirked, "you impatient to lose?" he said back cockily.

Gary smirked, "hardly, more like impatient to show you what a real trainer can do, you said you came from Pewter right, you probably only have one or two badges, while I have three. This match will be a piece of cake."

Mason smirked before downing his cup of coffee in one go and putting it on a table next to them, "Badges don't mean shit, skill does, and from what I've seen so far of you your all hot air. Quit your boasting and let's battle."

* * *

**Time skip**

It was ten minutes after that, Mason found himself standing across the battlefield from Gary as the two prepared for the start of their battle. Both clearly siked for the battle to come.

"Woooh, Gary Gary, he's our man, if he can't do it no one can" chanted Gary's little posse of girls over to the left of the battlefields who had come to watch the battle.

Internally Mason was conflicted, he didn't know whether to approve, hate or envy Gary for the fact that he travelled around with over five beautiful women, all of who were drop-dead gorgeous. And without gawking at them he could see they were clearly older than him and Gary. He just couldn't work it out, why they followed him.

Sure Mason knew from what he had seen of Gary in the anime that he was skilled and he had some swagger, but really. Mason sighed and pushed it to the back of his mind deciding that it wasn't something he'd ever understanding as he pushed his coat out of the way to reveal the four Pokéballs on his belt.

"Ready when you are Gary" Mason called as he got ready for things to start.

Gary smirked, "having me call out my Pokémon first so you can choose a type advantage? Clever, you'll need all the advantages you can get" he said as he took his own ball from his belt and tossed it out onto the field, "Nidorino, let's go!"

Sure enough, the ball burst open and in a flash of light the Poison point Pokémon appeared on the battlefield its head lowered as it began to scrape at the ground with its feet. It was thick and pointy spikes rand down the length of its back with smaller ones all over its violet hide and looked to be quite strong.

Mason looked the Pokémon over smiling as he did so, "I can see that I'm not the only one who has trained his Pokémon well, you don't disappoint" he said as he pulled the fourth ball from his belt and tossed it, "Scyther, ready for battle!"

Just like Gary's ball Mason's burst open and Scyther appeared on the field as it crossed its bladed arms slashing at the air in a ready stance as both Pokémon eyed each other across the field sizing the other up.

Gary smirked, "starting off with Scyther ay? Not a bad choice, looks like this will be a challenge after all," he said before he threw his hand out, "Nidorino, start things off with a Horn Attack!" he ordered.

Upon hearing the order Nidorino immediately began charging it's head lowered with its horn out.

"Dodge it Scyther, don't let it get close, use Vacuum Wave!" Mason ordered in retaliation.

Scyther moved, just barely dodging Nidorino's sharp horn and made to slash at the air in the direction of the poison point Pokémon as the air seemed to ripple and a rippling slash of air was sent at Nidorino from behind.

"Nidorino jump and use Poison Sting!" Gary ordered and a second before the attack landed Nidorino was in the air, narrowly avoiding the attack from behind as it turned in midair and shot out a spray of poison needles from its mouth.

"Shit!" Mason cursed under his breath, "use Razor Wind to deflect them and counter!" Mason ordered hurriedly thinking on the spot.

Scyther obeyed and began slashing at the air with its bladed arms as it began whipping the wind into a frenzy lashing out at the poison missiles as they came closer knocking them off course and missing. After a moment several blades of air broke from the wind and shot at Nidorino who was righting itself to attack.

"Dodge them Nidorino and use Double Kick!" Gary ordered giving all his attention to the battle.

Nidorino moved with surprising speed as it weaved in and out as the blades came at it each barely missing by a thread as Nidorino closed in on Scyther before it jumped up and threw itself into its kicks.

The wind around Scyther was only just calming down and Mason wasn't able to issue any orders until it did and the attacks went through, Scyther was only just able to bring its bladed arms up to block the kicks with their flat sides as each kick landed pushing it back.

As Scyther came to a halt it slashed the air again looking ready for battle once more before it seemed to flinch and drop to a knee its expression grim.

"Scyther!" Mason called out worried as he looked at his Pokémon wondering what the matter was, the kicks didn't look to have done that much damage. But then he saw it, the sicky purple marks on Scythers blades and he mentally cursed himself '_Fuck, I'm so stupid, Nidorino's special ability, it's poison point.'_

Gary smirked, "looks like your Scyther got a little bit too close to my Nidorino when he took those kicks, looks like this first battle is mine, Nidorino use Focus Energy and then wrap this up with another Horn Attack!"

Nidorino let out a cry as its body began to glow a bright purple as its eyes sharpened before it took charge at Scyther once more closing the distance fast its horn primed to strike.

"Scyther," Mason called thinking fast, "use Agility to dodge it, and then use X-scissor!"

Even in its poisoned state Scyther was still able to move, and hearing Mason's command wasn't about to give up as Nidorino closed in and a second before its attack landed it blurred out of the way reappearing just to Nidorino's left as its bladed arms glowed brightly as they cut through the air and caught Nidorino point-blank across its side and sent the quadruped Pokémon across the battlefield and crashing to a halt its eyes spinning from the powerful attack.

"What the!" Gary said in shock his eyes wide seeing his Pokémon taken out by a single attack, a complete turn around from what things had been looking like moments before. His girls seemed to agree with them as they all looked cress fallen that Gary's first Pokémon had lost.

Mason let out a sigh of relief that had been too close, it had been a good thing that Scyther's physical attacks had only gotten stronger in their training to learn ranged type moves, they needed a lot of power to be able to attack at range. It had been a gamble, they had only been able to use X-scissor once before in training, and it was proving difficult for Scyther to get it down but Mason knew that it would have to have been that or nothing to finish the battle then and there.

'_And I think I know why, Scyther I think you have the swarm ability, to make your bug type moves more powerful when you've taken damage' _Mason thought to himself as he raised Scythers ball, "good job Scyther, come on back and take a good rest, I'll take you to Nurse Joy to get healed right after this match is over" he said as he returned the Mantis Pokémon to its ball.

"What the hell was that move you used, X-scissor, I've never heard of it before," Gary asked as he recalled his downed Nidorino at the same time.

"That's likely because it's a move that Scyther has been in the stages of developing, it's just one of the moves that I've discovered with my team, didn't your gramps tell you, he seemed fairly excited when I told him about it the first time" Mason stated

"A new move?" Gary said completely shocked, "no he didn't, I guess I can see now why he thinks you're hot stuff, and I gotta say that I'm starting to agree with him. That Scyther was something else to be able to move like that while poisoned, you've sure trained it well"

Mason smirked, "thanks, ready for the next round?" he asked as he took a Pokéball off his belt.

Gary grinned, "you know it, you've got me curious now," he said as he took the ball off his belt and tossed it, "lets go, Growlithe!" he called as the ball burst open and in a flash of light the small canine Pokémon appeared on the field giving a bark of challenge towards Mason.

Mason smirked, "A Growlithe, nice, let's see how you handle this then" he called as he tossed his Pokéball up into the air, "Spearow, ready for battle!" he called as the ball burst open and Spearow soared out of it with a cry as it spread its wings and turned midair and came flying back down towards the battlefield.

Mason grinned, "I like your thinking, let's start this off with an Aerial Ace!" he yelled as Spearow shot down with high speed its energy gathering around it as it did so.

Before Gary even had a chance to call out for Growlithe to dodge Spearow shot by the canine and caught it in its side and launched it several feet across the stadium.

"Growlithe you okay!" Gary called worried. Growlithe got up shaking its head and barked in response making Gary nod back before looking to Mason, "I suppose that's another of the new moves you discovered?"

Mason smirked and nodded, "Yep, and it's too fast to dodge, think you can keep up?" he called as Spearow let out a cry of challenge from above.

Growlithe growled back at the challenge and Gary smirked, "Don't you worry we can handle it, show'm Growlithe, use Flamethrower! Bring that bird down!" he ordered as the girls cheered him on.

Growlithe howled flames gathered in its mouth and it let out a stream of flames from its mouth skyward towards Spearow.

Mason smirked, "Spearow, use Agility to dodge and then set up a Double Team!" he called out as she flames raced towards the small bird.

Spearow cried before it blurred out of the path of the flames at high speed and soared around the arena as it let out another cry as a dozen other doubles of Spearow appeared in the air as well circling overhead.

"Nice try but it'll take more than that to get us, Growlithe use Fire Blast scorch them all!" Gary ordered, "Full power!"

Growlithe gave another howl as it gathered a large ball of flames in its mouth before letting them loose skyward in a large star-shaped blast that spread out as it rose higher up.

Mason mentally cursed, "Spearow use Agility, climb higher get away from the flames!" he yelled, hoping if Spearow got high enough the thin air would snuff out the flames, there was no way to dodge an attack like that, it covered such a large area, '_Damn I didn't see this coming, Gary's good'_ he thought to himself.

Spearow hearing the command broke from its doubles and shot up into the sky as the flames grew closer going higher as fast as it could as Mason watched in horror as even as Spearow tried to outrun the flames they kept going only losing the smallest of power as Spearow reached its limit and the flames washed over him.

"Spearow!" Mason yelled out, his eyes wide as the sky lit up in the explosion that followed. His eyes wide as Spearow's form fell through the smoke freefalling from the great height that it had climbed in its efforts to try and escape the flames.

Mason felt his stomach clench as he gripped Spearow's Pokéball and was about to raise it to call Spearow back when the small bird righted itself, turning as it fell its wings stretching out as it let out a cry of Spearow as it began to dive back down.

"What the!" Gary said in shock seeing Spearow still conscious.

Mason swallowed as he looked at Spearow from afar, it was burnt badly from the attack, its feathers badly singed, he could tell that only the height had saved it from being taken out from that attack, he needed to end this quickly.

"Spearow, end this now with a Divebomb Aerial Ace!" Mason yelled, knowing Spearow was low on energy and that this would be a last-ditch move.

Spearow cried as it beat its wings and shot straight down as it gathered its energy that began to swirl around it as it shot down like a meteor towards Growlithe.

"Growlithe quick, knock it out of the sky with another Fire Blast!" Gary ordered hastily as Spearow got closer.

Growlithe instantly began to gather flames in its mouth again as it got ready to fire off another devastating fire attack as Spearow shot downward, opening its mouth to fire just as Spearow came close and the two attacks collided.

The explosion shook the very ground as energies hit one another, followed with a large cloud of smoke that filled the area, that both Mason and Gary had to turn away from, the smoke making their eyes water

"Spearow!", "Growlithe!" both trainers yelled into the smoke as they tried to spot their Pokémon through the thick smoke.

It took a long thirty seconds for the smoke to clear away enough for them to see the forms of both their downed Pokémon in the arena, Spearow laid out flat, across from a downed Growlithe, the result of the attacks clearly having been too much for both Pokémon to handle.

Gary sighed, "Damn," he said as he raised his Pokéball recalling Growlithe as Mason did the same, "that's one hell of a Spearow you've trained, to take a Fire Blast from my Growlithe and still be able to battle."

Mason nodded as he looked at Spearow's Pokéball in his hand and smile, "take a good rest Spearow, I'll get you to nurse joy as soon as this battle is over" he said feeling no small amount of pride in how well Spearow had performed in his match as he returned Spearow's ball to his belt before he took the next one and tossed it out, "Poliwag, ready to battle!" he called as Poliwag appeared on the field looking hyped and ready to fight.

"Poliwag ay" Gary smirked, "Perfect," he said as he did the same as he called, "Graveler, lets go!"

Gary's ball burst open and the large boulder Pokémon took to the field with a large thud as its feet hit the ground letting out a challenging cry as it balled its fists and glared at Poliwag, which Poliwag returned.

"A Graveler?" Mason said in shock arching an eyebrow at Gary's choice, "against a water type" he said as he began to frown, '_Either he's extremely confident in Graveler's strength or he's seriously underestimating Poliwags'_ mason thought to himself before speaking, "Interesting choice"

Gary smirked, "I've been training Graveler to resist water type moves, he's gotten so strong that he was what won it for me at this town's gym, think you can keep up with that!" Gary said in a challenge.

"We'll just have to see then won't we," Mason shot back, "Poliwag use Bubblebeam!" he ordered.

Poliwag instantly complied as it began to let out a dense stream of bubbles towards the large rock Pokémon.

Gary smirked, "take the hit and then use Earthquake!" he orders with a victorious tone to his voice as he did so.

Mason's eyes widened when he heard that, he knew there would be no way for Poliwag to dodge an earthquake, it would shake the entire battlefield and could only watch in horror as the stream of bubbles hit Graveler and not even seem to phase its stone facade before it tilted to one side and with a yell it slammed its foot back on the ground making the entire field shake.

Mason had to brace himself as the field shook to keep himself from falling over, Poliwag wasn't so lucky as the force of the shaking knocked the small tadpole over with a cry

"Poliwag!" Mason called worried, for the small Pokémon.

"Now hit it with Rock Throw!" Gary called as Graveler let out a grunt of confirmation before digging its fists into the ground and pulling out large rocks as it began throwing them at Poliwag.

"Poliwag get up and move!" Mason called seeing the attacks incoming.

Poliwag struggled to get to its feet just as the rocks were about to land, managing to dodge the first but got caught by the second and sent flying from the impact.

"Don't give up Poliwag, show them your Water Gun!" Mason ordered, his fists clenched.

Poliwag grunted as it got to its feet and took in a breath.

Gary snorted, "what's a Water Gun going to do? You've already seen how well Graveler can take water attacks," he said confidently, only to have his confidence washed away when Poliwag let out a massive blast of water from its mouth.

The powerful jet of water struck Graveler right in the face with speed and force knocking the larger and heavier Pokémon right off its feet and straight out of the ring sending it flying back before it crashed into the outer wall of the Pokémon centre leaving a large crater with Graveler in its centre, stuck but still conscious.

"Wow!" Gary said sounding impressed, "that was one hell of a Water Gun"

Mason smirked, "alright Poliwag nice Job" he said praising the small tadpole Pokémon.

"Poli" Poliwhirl began to respond before its entire body began to glow and change.

"Wow," Mason said his eyes wide as a smile came to his face as he recognized what was happening, Watching as Poliwag's form began to grow and change drastically.

As the light began to fade in Poliwags place now stood a powerful looking Poliwhirl that seemed confused as it looked at its hands, "Poli….whirl?" it said with confusion.

Mason grinned, "that's awesome Poliwag, you evolved, now you look even more kick-ass"

"Not bad," Gary said with a smirk, "still not enough to beat us though, Graveller show'm your newest move. Use Double Edge!"

"Gravel!" Graveler roared as it pushed itself out of the wall and then threw itself into a roll as it shot towards Poliwhirl energy swirling around it as it did so.

"Poliwhirl show them were not one to be taken lightly, Hydro Pump!" Mason ordered inwardly hoping that the evolution would give Poliwhirl the strength now that it had been lacking as a Poliwag for this move.

"Whirl!" Poliwhirl said as it braced itself taking a stance as Graveler came at it.

With less than three meters between them, Poliwhirp pushed forward with effort and a large blast of water short from the front of its body, the pressure of the force stalling Graveler right in its tracks before lifting it off the ground and launching it back and into the air.

"Graveler!" Gary said in complete shock as he watched his Pokémon go airborne before flying back and crashing into the ground only a few feet in front of him, knocked out from both attack and impact.

"Poliwhirl!" Poliwhirl cried in victory as Mason grinned.

"Nicely done Poliwhirl," he said raising Poliwhirls Pokéball, "take a good rest, you've earned it" he praised as he returned his newly evolved Pokémon to its ball.

"Not bad, that's one hell of a water Pokémon you got there," Gary said as he called back his Graveler, "but you're not the only one with a water type you know," he said taking the next ball from his belt, "Wartortle, let's go!"

Wartortle appeared on the battlefield in a flash looking just as confident as its trainer as it looked expectantly towards Mason waiting for him to call out his opponent.

Mason smirked, "Your starter, how fitting." Mason said as he took his final Pokéball from his belt and tossed it out, "Dratini, ready for battle!"

Just like Wartortle, Dratini appeared out on the battlefield and let out a cry of challenge as it saw Wartortle. Wartortle just grinned and took a ready stance when it finally saw its opponent.

"It may be rare but it can't beat us, Wartortle use Water Gun!" Gary ordered looking serious as he commanded his Pokémon.

Wartortle let out a high-pressured stream of water just as commanded right towards Dratini as Mason smirked.

"Dodge, get in close with Wrap!" Mason ordered as he kept his eyes on Wartortle an uneasy feeling in his gut.

Dratini moved fast, ducking under the stream of water before moving toward the larger turtle Pokémon and shot up when it was close enough and wrapped around its body and limbs with its body.

"Nice try, Wartortle Withdraw!" Gary commanded as Wartortle obeyed and pulled all of its limbs inside its shell before ducking its head inside as well.

Mason smirked, "fine by me, Dratini use Thunderwave!"

"No!" Gary yelled as his eyes went wide as Dratini let out a cry and released a bust of electricity out at close range that was impossible to escape at such a distance.

"Now release it and use Twister, toss that turtle!" Mason ordered wanting to get some distance between the two of them and wrap this up as that uneasy feeling in his gut got worse.

Dratini released on command and with a cry called the draconic winds to its command and send the shelled Pokémon flying into the air.

Gary clenched his fists, "Show them we're not to be messed with Wartortle, use Ice Beam!"

Mason's eyes widened, "Dratini move!" he yelled instantly hearing the command as he realised why he had been feeling uneasy.

Wartotrle's head and limbs came out of its shell as it was thrown and hearing the command began to gather the ice energy in its mouth before shooting down at the small dragon.

Dratini heard Mason and saw the attack at the same time, and only just barely got out of the way in time as the patch of ground that it had been standing on was frozen solid by the ice beam.

"No more messing around, Dratini, Use Dragon Rage full power!" Mason ordered, he knew he had to end this quickly, Wartortle knowing an ice type move was worrying him.

"Don't let it. Use Ice Beam!" Gary ordered as Wartortle landed and instantly obeyed gathering ice energy in its mouth again it let out another chilling beam.

Dratini quickly gathered as much draconic energy into its maw as possible before unleashing it right into the path of the ice beam. The two attacks collide but to both Dratini's and Mason's shock, the arctic attack pushed through the draconic flames and dissipated them.

"Move!" Mason yelled, but it was too late.

The arctic beam hit Dratini full centre on its chest and threw it back as Dratini let out a pained cry from the super effective attack as small patches of ice began to gather across its body.

"Dratini!" Mason yelled in worry for his partner his fists clenched and by his side as he saw his partner writhing on the battlefield from the super-effective attack.

"It's over, you didn't really think that I wouldn't be prepared for a dragon type did you," Gary said from the other side of the field, "I plan on taking on the elite four after I win all the badges and the championship, with Lances dragons I need to start working on countermeasures early on, glad to know they work"

Mason scowled, "Dratini, come on, I know you can do this!" he called to his Pokémon, "show him you're not weak"

"Dra!" Dratini cried as it slowly began to get up fighting through the pain of the ice over parts of its body and with another cry began to move forward a look of determination in its eye, and much to Mason's shock parts of his partner's body stayed behind as it moved… no not parts of it, a layer of it.

"Of course," Mason said in a low voice as he watched Dratini shed its skin leaving all the cold patches of ice behind as it moved forward to battle again, '_Shed skin, I completely blanked on that'_ he thought to himself, as he looked at Dratini and frowned.

Shed skin may have gotten rid of the ice but Dratini still looked like it had taken some major damage from that ice beam, he would have to end this soon.

Gary smirked, "so your dragon can shed its skin to get rid of status effects, that's handy, but it won't matter to us, right Wartortle!" Gary said in bolstered confidence to his starter, "Tortle" Wartortle replied with a grin that matched.

Mason looked over the battlefield as he tried to come up with a plan, a ranged offensive was going to be an option any more, not with their opponents having an ice attack at their disposal, which was even strong enough to counter Dragon Rage, he'd have to come at this from another angle.

"Dratini, get in close, use Agility then use Dragon Rage!" Mason ordered as a plan started to form in his mind.

Dratini let out a cry as it disappeared in a blur as it began moving to carry out its orders.

Gary smirked, "You think that'll work, Wartortle, use Ice Beam again as soon as you see it!"

The turtle Pokémon nodded as it began to take in ice energy as its eyes scanned the battlefield in front of it looking for its opponent to turn into an ice cube.

Unfortunately for it, Dratini chose to appear behind Wartortle with its speed now much higher, Draconic energy already gathering in its maw as it made ready to attack.

"Wartortle behind you!" Gary called to warn his Pokémon of the attack, "Fire hurry!"

Wartortle made to move around to fire, just seeing Dratini in its side vision as it got ready to fire but before it did it stalled, sparks coating its body for a single split second. The Thunderwave from earlier now taking effect and paralyzing the turtle Pokémon at the worst possible moment, or the best, depending on how you look at it.

With its opponent stuck Dratini wasted no time and unleashed the draconic ball of flames from its maw and caught Wartortle point-blank in the face, the impact causing a large explosion as both the ice energy that it had been gathering and the draconic energy collided and reacted rather violently.

"Wartortle!" Gary called worried as the smoke from the explosion began to clear, his cheering squad was silent at the side of the arena as they all watched. Seconds later the form of Wartortle was seen through the smoke, now laid out on the battlefield unconscious from the attack.

Mason let out a breath that he hadn't known that he'd been holding, they did it, they had won.

* * *

**Scene break**

Mason and Gary stood inside the Pokémon centre shaking each other's hand in recognition of each other after having taken their Pokémon to nurse joy to have them treated.

"That was a great match, I'm glad I took my gramps advice not to come and battle you," Gary said with a grin, "you're one heck of a trainer."

"Thanks but I still have a lot to learn, you really had me on the ropes, this battle showed me that I really need to up my game," Mason replied with a smirk of his own.

"Yeah, don't be hard on yourself, not many can compete with the awesomeness that is Gary Oak" Gary boasted with a smirk.

Mason smirked and shook his head as the two of them began to walk over to the waiting area to sit down and wait for their Pokémon to be treated.

"So Gary, care to fill me in on just how you managed to teach your Pokémon so many versatile moves, Flamethrower on Growlithe I can understand, but Fire Blast too, and then there's Graveler with Earthquake and Double Edge, and not to mention Wartortle's Ice Beam. What's your secret," Mason began to ask, clearly wondering how Gary had taught his Pokémon so many strong moves so early on.

Gary snorted, "TMs of course, you know technical machines," Gary said as if it was obvious.

That made Mason pause and stiffen, "TMs" he repeated in confusion, of course, he knew what they were, no one who had played the Pokémon games in his world didn't but he had only ever heard about them in the game and never the anime. So it was understandable that to Gary his confusion sounded like he didn't know what he was talking about.

"Geeze you must be really behind in the times aren't ya" Gary smirked, "they came out last year, it's all part of that inter-regional program that the leagues have been promoting over the past couple of years, it was the first joint venture between Slip Co here in Kanto and Devon's cooperation in Hoenn" he explained, "they use powerful psychic Pokémon to transfer the memories of techniques from Pokémon and place them onto disks that you can use to teach your Pokémon the moves, really handy" he began to elaborate as he reached into his bag and took out a disk case which looked to be full of various disks.

Mason looked at it incredulously blinking, it looked just like the disk holder from the third generation games. He couldn't understand it why hadn't the anime ever touched on them or any of this inter-regional stuff.

Gary smirked, "you don't know do you," he said, his smirk growing.

Mason rubbed the back of his head sheepishly to keep up the appearance, "Not really, I kind of blanked on most things that I didn't think were important when I was travelling before, mind catching me up"

Gary snorted, "sure," he said as he took out a disk and a small circular device, "the Disks can only be used once to teach one Pokémon a move, of course, they have to be able to learn the move for it to work, so it's best to always check your Pokedex or do some research before you even by the Disk and then go and waste it on a Pokémon who can't use the move" he explained, "though there have been rumours circulating about reusable disks that could be on the market by next year. As it is the companies release about ten new moves every couple of weeks, but only the most experienced trainers can even hope to afford them, with the prices usually being well out of the range of most average trainers but really handy"Gary held up the small circular device and made a show of putting the disk on one end and an empty Pokéball on the other, "you just push the button and this little thing transfers the memories over to the Pokémon in the Pokéball, of course you have to have the Pokémon train with the move some after to really get the new move down, but that's simple"

Mason nodded, that did make sense, and he was starting to put together why he'd never heard about it all in the anime, it all must have been because of the time difference, in the anime everything started when Ash was ten, but this was five years after that, it all must have happened in those years

"So this is all part of the Inter-regional thing you mentioned before?" Mason asked wanting to learn more, he'd definitely have to do some looking into this after, he hadn't heard anything about this back in Viridian or Pewter.

Gary nodded as he put his TMs away, "yeah, it's been going on two years now, the Technical machines were just the first part. My gramps has been in talks with many other professors from the other regions, right now it's only Kanto, Jhoto, Hoenn and Sinnoh who are part of it. They've only just been getting around to exchanging some data, the leagues have been rather protective of the data, knowledge is power after all, but the Technical machines were the first big breakthrough that came out of it all. Gramps told me that there's even talks about some inter-regional exchanges of Pokémon species to happen in the next couple of months to help expand the trust."

"That sounds amazing, just think about the rare Pokémon," Mason said with a smirk, this was sounding even better by the minute.

Gary smirked, "yeah, it's going to start with the safari zones, trainers will be allowed to see the Pokémon but not catch them, at least for a while, the leagues don't want to limit the numbers and want the populations to grow some before they start to release them out into various areas, the Rangers will monitor the numbers from there"

Mason felt his heart skip a beat, '_Rangers'_ he thought to himself and swallowed as he realised he really needed to do a lot more looking into just how this world was different from the anime and games. He didn't know why it hadn't occurred to him to do so before now, it really shouldn't have surprised him that there was so much more to this world than just what the anime and games showed. True enough he had heard of the rangers in the anime and he had even played the games of them a time or two but the mention of them made him realise that he really needed to take some time and do some research into things, he needed more information.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter seven- **

**A trip to the library and Rocket grunts**

It was about an hour after his battle with Gary that Mason found himself walking toward the local library in Cerulean city. Gary had already left once more to continue his badge hunt wishing Mason well. They had actually struck up a decent accord over the hour they had chatted after their battle.

The battle, as well as the talk they had after, had really opened Mason's eyes to things that he had been blind to earlier. The first part of his journey from Pallet to Pewter had just the warm-up, and it was clear why. Mount Moon.

While it wasn't a very big mountain in Mason's eyes, it did serve as one thing, a barrier. It was the only straight path through to the rest of the region and the major cities. One only had to look at the map to see that.

And looking around now Mason could see the difference. In comparison to Cerulean city, Pewter city was a quaint little backwater town, there was no real comparison when it came to size.

Gary had explained it to him well, Mount Moon served as the gateway into the rest of the region and Cerulean city was the crossroads where most trainers passed through as it had so many various connecting routes. It was where most trainers learned just what the rest of the world had to offer.

And looking in the various shop windows Mason could see that. He could see shops dedicated to various things he had only seen in the games, Shops that specialised in TMs, Pokéballs, fishing rods, bikes, technology and various other things, as he walked down the street. He knew he would have to do some major battling to win some cash and go on a spending spree later to get more gear. Though as of yet he didn't know how he was going to carry it all.

But right now he had his mind focused on a single task. His talk with Gary had given him many questions that he needed answers, and while Gary had told him several things, he needed more information and the newspapers and records in the archives of the Curealean library were sure to be able to give him his answers.

* * *

**Time skip**

It was five hours later that Mason was leaving the Cerulean city Library his mind swimming with all the information that he had taken in from the many newspapers that he had read as he made his way over to one of the benches outside to take a break and get some air.

The records and newspaper articles had been very informing. Apparently, it had all started with the Regional champions, Lance Wataru and Steven Stone, in an effort to better their regions. While each region had a governing body the champions and Elite Four were the main part of that governing body as well as the regions strongest trainers, Masters in their own rights.

The Champion and the Elite four had a large group of trainers under them, called Ace trainers, who were at Elite level themselves, all with years of experience and had been high ranked trainers in various tournaments and had even challenged the Elite at various times.

It's what most trainers settled to be after spending so long on their other dreams and he could see why. They got paid huge amounts by the league and they answered only to the Elite Four and the champion of their region. They were given privileges and authority that matched most Gym leaders who were the first line of defence for their cities when a crisis happened.

Other trainers went into law enforcement, the likes of the Rangers who dealt in Pokémon only crime where no humans were involved, or the Police who handled the human side of things.

Of course, there were other jobs that most trainers settled for if they weren't that skilled, but in the grand scheme of things they weren't really that notable. Breeders, shop keepers, ranch handlers, researchers and other jobs of the like were common for most. The lucky few were even drafted to work for the two titan companies, Silph Co and Devons Corporation, to field-test their technology and various other things.

It had been the joint ventures between those two companies, at the prompting of Steven Stone, at the time Hoenn champion that had begun it all when new technologies had started to make peoples and trainers lives easier. Thinks like the Pokégear from Jhoto allowed for communication outside of Pokémon centres and landlines. The Pokénav allowed for easier travelling and fewer trainers getting lost.

It was very apparent that in the last two years that the Pokémon world, or at least these four regions, had begun advancing at a rapid pace that had been unprecedented in the years before.

Mason rubbed the bridge of his eyes as he tried to think. It was great that the regions were advancing, but spending five hours staring at a screen as he read over all of those old records had left him with a bit of a headache.

There was just so much to it all Mason realised things were going to be a lot harder than he had originally thought. True he knew that he was going to be fine in the long run, he wasn't going to slack off on his training. But with TMs being an actuality, it meant that weaker trainers would have access to powerful moves as long as they had the cash.

It was going to prove to be much more of a challenge than Mason had thought it originally was going to be but that only made him smirk. A challenge was what he wanted.

Slowly Mason's headache began to ebb away and he got to his feet with a sigh, '_well I guess it's time to see what the shops have to offer me, the library can only tell me so much about the world now, I need to see things first hand. And if anyone asks I can just use mount moon as an excuse for my lack of knowledge on things'_ he thought to himself as he started off, it was still early evening, so he would have at least a couple of hours to take in the town and see about doing some pricing.

* * *

**Time skip**

It was two hours later that Mason found himself sitting in the Pokémon centre once more, this time he was completely gobsmacked by everything he had seen in the past couple of hours. This town was a gold mine for everything a trainer could possibly need.

There were so many shops and stalls that Mason was sure he had only just gotten through less than half of them to do some pricing and get some answers to some of the questions bobbing around his head.

Within the first fifteen minutes of looking Mason had gotten his answer to a single burning question as to how trainers carried so much and the answer had him floored. Specially designed compression backpacks, made by devons corporation with their space technology had been the answer. They made his backpack look like a plastic bag in comparison.

Add onto that there were special compression pods that were similar to Pokéballs that could expand up to the size of a grown man for storage of food and other items, that could then shrink down to the size of three expanded Pokéballs. That had answered another question as to how trainers carried enough food and supplies on them for weeks on end.

Of course, such technology was going to be expensive, the backpack alone cost around twenty-five thousand, and each of the compression pods cost five thousand. Mason knew he was going to have to work his ass off to get himself at least the backpack and then at least three of the pods. Both made everything inside it lightweight with the technology used in them and he was getting a little tired with having to lug all his stuff around with him. He was fit but even the trip from Pewter had made him realise that travelling with regular bags was impractical.

But therein was the problem, he only had limited money, even after Gary had generously given him a nice little payout after their match. He had just shy of seven thousand, enough for one pod, but he wasn't just about to settle for that, he needed cash and quick, if Ash stuck to the canon timeline and ditched his training he'd be there the next day he really didn't want to have to travel with the group so early and had been hoping to perhaps skip town before they caught up, but now it was looking like he would have no choice.

It was then that the Pokémon centre doors opened and two trainers came rushing in Pokéballs in hand, a boy and girl both looking like they had been through a rough time of it.

Mason arched an eyebrow as he watched them run-up to the counter and desperately plead for nurse joy to help their Pokémon.

Getting to his feet Mason began to walk over, "Did something happen?" he asked curiously wondering what had left them in such a state.

The boy turned to him as Nurse Joy walked off with their Pokéballs, "You could say that. We got in way over our heads"

The girl shook her head, "I don't even know why I let you talk me into trying it, that bridge is no joke"

"I know, I know, I just thought that between the two of us we could hack it" The boy tried to defend himself.

"Bridge?" Mason asked curiously as he wondered if it was what he was thinking.

"Yeah, the Nugget bridge," The boy replied, "it's a challenge just north of the city, some group is sponsoring it, there's a huge cash prize at the end of it for any trainer who can beat all the trainers from one side of the bridge to the other, it's really intense"

"We only lasted four trainers before we got washed out" the girl sighed.

"Sound interesting," Mason replied as he thought to himself, if it was the same as in the video game then he suspected what group as behind it, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to draw their attention but then again he needed the cash.

"Trust me, stay clear of it, you'll only end up getting washed out" The boy warned before both of them walked off to the waiting area to wait for their Pokémon to be treated.

Mason stood for a moment thinking to himself as he weighed the pros and cons in his mind, it would give his Pokémon training and mean a large payout of some kind, he wasn't sure how much exactly but he hoped it would be enough to get him what he needed.

On the downside of things, it would in all likelihood put him on team Rockets radar, the real team rocket and not those three wannabes that followed Ash and co.

Sighing he rubbed the back of his head, '_I guess it couldn't hurt to at least go and check it out, too bad I can't abuse this like how I did back in the video game'_ he thought to himself as he remembered just how badly the bridge was easy to abuse in the games with how one could just beat all the trainers and then go back to swap for a weak Pokémon in the centre, usually the Magikarp that he bought before going into mount moon and then going back to the team rocket fight and losing on purpose and getting a nugget each time regardless, it was easy money.

Sadly life wasn't a video game and turning on his heels Mason began to walk towards the exit to go in search of the nugget bridge to see if it was anything like that he thought it would be.

* * *

**Time skip**

It was nothing like Mason thought it would be. For starters the bridge looked much bigger in real life and there looked to be a tonne more trainers on it than Mason had thought there would be, at least three times as many as the poultry five that the games had, now he could see why the other guy was telling him to stay clear.

Looking to the side of the bridge there was a sign posted that had golden writing on it that caught Mason's eye.

"Nugget bridge challenge, take on the fifteen bridge trainers and fortune beyond your wildest dreams"

Reading down the poster Mason could see that each trainer was guaranteed to pay out at least a thousand Pokédollars if you beat them, and the grand prize was listed to be at least north of twenty-five thousand. That got Mason's attention bad, that guaranteed at least a minimum payout of forty thousand which would guarantee him enough to get the bag and pods that he would need to make travelling a hell of a lot easier and if it was more then he would be set for everything else that he had his eyes on.

Reaching down he brushed his fingers against the four Pokéballs on his belt as he thought it over. He didn't want to attract the attention of Team Rocket if they were behind this, and after Poliwag had evolved he wanted to give it some time to adjust to its new body before putting it into more battles.

But he supposed that battling in his new form would be just as good, he could always use his other Pokémon to battle and keep Poliwhirl out of the battles. Though fifteen trainer battles in a row, that was going to be a hell of a strain if they were any kind of power. His battle with Gary had made him wary about battling.

'But I don't have time to do anything else, as it stands this is my only viable option' Mason thought to himself as he eyed the bridge his fists clenched by his sides before sighing, "oh well, go big or go home, time to see if all this training has been worth it," he said before plucking Dratini's Pokéball from his belt and stepping toward the bridge.

As soon as his second foot stepped on to the raised platform a young man in a white vest shirt strode out into the open with a Pokéball in his hand and a smirk on his face.

"Well another challenger for the bridge, that makes three today," the young man said cockily, "you ready to lose"

Mason smirked, "not going to happen," he said before tossing Dratini's Pokéball out onto the bridge as he started the challenge.

* * *

**Time skip** **(did you really think I was going to go over fifteen battles in one chapter)**

It was a full hour later that Mason strode off the opposite end of the Nugget bridge looking exhausted. Fifteen battles one right after the other was not something that he was planning to try any time again soon.

The onslaught had been near-endless after the first trainer. At first, he had thought it was going to be easier than he thought, the first four trainers only had one or two Pokémon, mostly the standard lot, and not overly powerful. It had been from the fifth trainer on that things had begun to get difficult with each trainer up until number ten having three Pokémon each, and one of which had been an evolution above, Nidorino, Pidgeotto, Graveller, Raticade to name but a few.

Those stronger evolutions had proved to be a little trickier, being well trained, but he had still prevailed. It was when he started in on the double-digit battles is when things had really gotten tougher with four Pokémon a trainer two of which were evolutions and both clearing being backed with moves that could only have been taught by TMs.

Nidorino with Take Down, Body Slam, Double-Edge and even one with Thunderbolt. Raticade with Double team, Dig, swift and Hyper Beam, Pidgeotto with Razor Wind and Toxic had been particularly troublesome to deal with. The last trainer had even had a Graveler who had been taught a particularly troubling combo with Earthquake and Fire Blast that Poliwhirl had only just been quick enough to avoid.

Needless to say, the Nugget bridge had been nothing like how he had remembered it in the video games and he was glad for that, he would have rage quit so many times if it had been and called bullshit.

'_I am definitely getting my team some TMs as soon as possible to speed things along. Training is all well and good but if trainers are going to be like that in the future then I'm seriously going to get my ass handed to me unless I step things up and fast' _he thought to himself. But despite everything, he was proud of how his team had pulled through and he was glad to have finished it. Just as that thought crossed his mind however, he caught sight of two men walking towards him. Both looking particularly shady but pleased to see him.

"Congratulations Young man," the first said gleefully, "you're the first to successfully defeat the nugget bridge challenge, and I must say that was a wonderful display of power"

Mason nodded, "thanks, I take it you're both representatives of the group that sponsored this challenge?" he asked playing it carefully as he watched both men nod.

"Indeed we are, young man, and for successfully completing the challenge we'd like to present you with these as a token of thanks for that wonderful display," the second man said holding a wooden box in his hands which he opened revealing six golden nuggets inside it that gleamed in the sunlight.

Mason smirked seeing them, if the price on those nuggets were as high as they were in the video games, then that was easily thirty thousand Pokédollars right there. He had already won plenty from the battles on the bridge. Five thousand from the first five trainers, seven and a half thousand from the next five and a whopping ten thousand from the final five trainers. All in all, he now had twenty-seven and a half thousand Pokédollars to his name, no small amount considering he was only at this stage in things, thirty thousand more would see him set up well and proper.

"Thank you," Mason said as he reached forward to take the box from the man wanting to get his hands on them and leave quickly. Of course, things are never that simple.

"Ah just one second please," the other man said as he stepped into his way, "before you accept your prize, we have an offer to make you. You see, our group is interested in strong trainers like yourself. We actually set this challenge up in an effort to find worthy trainers that had the potential that our Boss is looking for in the organisation. As part of our group these nuggets would only be mere drops in the ocean of wealth you could amass with your strength as part of our organization."

"Someone of your strength would no doubt be able to climb the inner rankings and bring great glory to our organisation," the man behind him said still holding the box in his hands.

"So why not join us," the first man said again grinning sinisterly, "it would be a once in a lifetime opportunity to use your strength and become famous throughout the world as a member of the Team Rocket Elite"

Mason smirked, 'called it' he thought to himself internally before shaking his head, "I think you mean Infamous." he corrected casually, "thanks but no thanks, I have no interest in joining up with any groups, I'm strong enough on my own. Besides, I'm no one's lap dog."

Almost instantly the two men's smiles turned into scowls as the man with the box slammed it shut.

"Oh, so you think you're hot stuff do you," the first man sneered, "just because you beat a few trainers, all that winning has gone to your head kid"

"This is your last chance," the second man said as he took a Pokéball from his inner jacket, "you can either join us and we can forget about what you just said. Or we can make you wish you had never been born and take your Pokémon. Either way, we win, so what's it going to be, kid"

Mason's smirk never faltered, "I think it's you two who have the big heads," he said before casually moving his hands and pushing the buttons on two of his Pokéballs having taken them from his belt as the two been giving their little sales pitch. And out of the balls appeared Dratini and Scyther by his sides.

The two men growled, "so be it" the first man said as he tossed his Pokéball, followed by a second as both back-peddled to make room.

The balls burst open and Mason watched as a Golbat and Raticade burst forth from their balls.

He knew both Dratini and Scyther were ready to go, they had been the ones to take the least amount of damage in his battles on the bridge, he had their Pokéballs close at hand just in case things went as he suspected they would.

"Golbat use bite!", "Raticade use hyper fang!" the two men ordered and their Pokémon moved to carry out their master's commands.

Mason scowled, "Dratini, blow them both back with Twister! Scyther ready for an offensive with Swords Dance!" he ordered

His Pokémon moved instantly. Dratini instantly crying out as the draconic winds whipped around them and hit both Golbat and Raticate in their advanced knocking them back as Scyther crossed his bladed as a powerful aura began to coat its body as it gave a powerful cry.

"We'll teach you to mess with us kid!" one of the men yelled, their shirts having been blown open by the wind revealing their black undershirts with the red R's emblazoned on them identifying them as Rocket Grunts.

"Both of you, use Hyper Beam!" the other grunt yelled in anger.

Mason's eyes narrowed as he watched both Pokémon begin to gather energy in their mouths to launch devastating attacks, he had yet to see a Hyper beam used in person and he wasn't looking forward to doing so in these conditions.

"Scyther, Dratini use Agility to dodge, get behind them" he ordered, saying the last part softly so that only they could hear.

Both Pokémon nodded and disappeared in a blur of high speed just as both Golbat and Raticade launched their attacks, Mason had to jump clear of the explosions that made the trainers on the bridge start running away.

"Now!" Mason yelled as he started to get up from his rather hasty dodge, "Scyther, use X-scissor on Raticade, Dratini use Dragon Rage on Golbat, then hit the lot of them with Twister!"

The attack was instantaneous. Both Scyther and Dratini reappeared behind their opponents, not staggered from the powerful attacks and wide open. Scyther crossed its arms as they glowed ominously and it shot forward at the large rat Pokémon, cutting the large X that flared green as it hit its mark as Raticade gave out a cry before falling faint. Dratini wasted no time as it launched the draconic ball of fire from its mouth that hit the large bag Pokémon from behind sending it crashing to the ground out cold just like its partner, only for both of them to be caught by the powerful winds that Dratini summoned that picked both of them up along with the Rocket Grunts and began to swirl them around in the powerful cyclone that began to take shape.

The Rocket grunts were yelling as they were tossed about but Mason could hardly hear them over the powerful winds that whipped his coat about him. "Now smash them into the ground!" Mason ordered with a scowl wanting to end this now.

Dratini did just as ordered and with a cry, the cyclone bent to the small dragons will and with plenty of power behind it smashed both rocket grunts and Pokémon into the ground hard before dissipating leaving them in a heap.

As the winds died down Mason began to approach the downed Rockets, both of them were unconscious and weren't going to be any more trouble to him now. Using his boot he rolled one of them over and grinned as he took the box with his prize inside. Turning he began to leave only to pause as he stopped and looked back at the grunts and their Pokémon.

He had no doubt that he would definitely be on team Rocket's radar after this.

'_oh well, in for a penny, in for a pound'_ he thought before making his way back over to them and after a moment found what he was looking for, '_if they are going to come after me anyway over this, might as well pour salt on the wound'_ he thought before he drove the heel of his boot down and crushed both of the grunts Pokéballs before he took one of the empty ones from his belt and tossed it at the unconscious Golbat.

There was no resistance at all as the next second the light on the front of the ball went out before he scooped it up and looked to his two Pokémon, "looks like we've got ourselves a new team member," he said as he shrunk the Pokéball.

Dratini gave a small cry of agreement and Scyther nodded it's head solemnly content with the action. Before both of them disappeared into red energy as Mason recalled them both to their balls before looking to the unconscious Raticade and shook his head. He didn't really have need of it on his team, Golbat would be enough for him. Besides, it was free of its ball now, with any luck it would wake up before the two grunts realise it was free and take off, he was sure none of the Pokémon team rocket used actually wanted to do the things they were used for.

With that thought Mason turned and started back down the Nugget Bridge to head back into the City, he had some nuggets to sell and an anonymous tip to leave to the local police about two shady characters at that end of the nugget bridge.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter eight**

**sister troubles and shopping**

It was the next morning that Mason was up bright and early. He knew he was seriously being pressed for time. With everything that had happened the day before, he had only enough time after leaving the bridge to get to a nearby shop to sell the nuggets that he had won.

Thankfully enough the nuggets had sold for the price that he had been hoping for, and the box had went for another five hundred. So in all he had a solid fifty eight thousand he would have more than enough to get the bag and pods.

After returning from the shop to the centre Mason had turned his Pokémon over to Nurse Joy giving her a warning about his newest Pokémon about how it might be hostile. But the gentle nurse had told him not to worry about it.

He had left all his Pokémon in the overnight care of the centre and he was planning to get them back that morning before going for breakfast.

As he went to shower, he couldn't help but think about the newest addition to his team. He didn't really know what had possessed him to do it. At the time it felt like a great idea, Team Rocket were crooks and thieves, it's not like they could go to the police and report their Pokémon stolen. Hell they more than likely never even registered their Pokémon or themselves as trainers.

That had been something Mason had learned yesterday, it was how the League kept track of Pokémon and trainers, every time a trainer bought a Pokéball it was assigned to that trainers ID number, so when a trainer caught a Pokémon with it, the information of that Pokémon was then sent to a registry. It was just another thing that the inter-regional program had brought about with Silph co and Devons corporation leading the way. The registry prevented Pokémon thieves from using stolen Pokémon in official league sanctioned events. Of course there was also a simple way around it like he had done the day before.

Smashing the Pokéball releases the Pokémon and all the Rockets would have to do would be to use another empty Pokéball to recatch the Pokémon and register it to them. It was why he had done just that. So it meant that even if the Rockets could try to take legal action against him, there would be no proof of the Pokémon ever belonging to them, if by some miracle they were registered, which he highly doubted.

But Mason knew that this would likely cause him a headache. As much as Golbat wasn't a Rocket Pokémon any more, they hadn't exactly crossed paths on the best terms, and he knew the relationship was likely going to get off to a rocky start.

He knew that he already Spearow as a flying type Pokémon, and that he didn't necessarily need Golbat on his team in that regard, it was the poison nature and Golbats second evolution form that had Mason wanting it. Crobat's stats were all higher than a Fearows and it had a wider spread of moves for him to utilize in battle. Along with the fact that Golbat already knew Hyper Beam, and he was hoping that he would be able to use Golbat to teach that move to a few of his other Pokémon later on, to save him the cash he'd have to fork out for the Technical machine, which was sure to be pricey,

He sighed as he turned the water off and got out of the shower wrapping a towel around his waist, it was going to be a long morning.

* * *

**Time skip**

After getting dried and changed Mason had retrieved his Pokéballs from the front desk and went out to the training area at the back of the Pokémon centre after grabbing some sandwiches from the cafeteria to eat for breakfast.

His plan was a simple one, have his Pokémon out when he released Golbat and confront the Pokémon and explain things. If it accepted him as its trainer everything would run smoothly, if not then he'd have to battle it again to prove himself worthy of being its new trainer, he was hoping not to have to resort to such things but if it was the only way he would.

One by one Mason released his Pokémon from their balls until is first four Pokémon stood in front of him awaiting his orders.

"Alright everyone, as of yesterday we got ourselves a new team member," Mason told them holding up Golbats Pokéball, "Scyther and Dratini both already know this, but it wasn't exactly a regular catch. It was owned by a rather shady individual before hand and I decided to liberate it for our team. I'm not sure how it will react once I release it or if it will accept me as its trainer, so I am going to need the four of you to help me out here" he told them, "if it attacks I'll need you to defend me, but if you have to do so, try not to hurt it to badly, we want to try to convince it to join us, okay"

Receiving nods and small sounds of agreement from his team, mason took a breath as he turned to the side and pushed the button on the Pokéball to open it.

The very next second Golbat appeared in the air several feet in front of them flapping its wings as it began looking around in apparent confusion before doing a full turn in mid air and coming face to face with Mason blinking its small eyes as it let out a confused sound.

Mason held up his hands to show that he wasn't being hostile, 'so far so good, it hasn't attacked me… yet' he thought to himself, "easy there golbat, no one is going to hurt you" Mason began speaking to the large bat gently, "you're safe here. You're no longer captured by Team Rocket. I took you from them yesterday after I beat your last trainer, do you remember" he spoke.

Golbat seemed to look surprised for a moment before its eyes narrowed on Mason making the Pokémon behind the trainer bristle ready to move to their trainers aid.

Mason kept his hands in front of him, "I'm nothing like them Golbat, I may have taken you from them but I don't plan on abusing your strength for my own gain like they did. I just didn't think it right that such a powerful Pokémon like you were should be used by a bunch of criminals"

Golbats eyes were still narrowed but it seemed to get a smug air to it at the complement to its strength that mason paid to it. It seemed to be watching mason more closely now.

Mason swallowed slightly things were going better than he had hoped, "I'd like to offer you a deal Golbat, a place on my team, I may have caught you but I know that it wasn't exactly the normal way that is why I am making you this offer like this. If you'd prefer to be free I can take you to the nearest cave when I can and release you there. But if you want to become a member of my team" he said as he gestured to the Pokémon behind him, "that can be arranged, but know that the training is tough, none of my Pokémon are weak, as you saw yesterday in your battle with Dratini and Scyther. We train at every available opportunity to grow stronger and prove we are the best. You are already strong but I promise you if you become my Pokémon you can become even stronger, and your strength won't be abused like it was with your last trainer."

Golbat kept flying in place as it listened to Mason's offer. The large bat was actually shocked at Mason's offer to release it if it didn't want to become a member of his team. That alone had caused the Pokémon to stop glaring at the trainer and actually listen to his offer. It was clear to Golbat that this trainer was nothing like its last, perhaps it would give him a chance, if it meant that through his training that it would get stronger it seemed like a win win situation.

With a beat of its wings Golbat moved closer to Mason and landed on his shoulder and gave a nodding gesture with a sound of agreement.

Mason blinked as he looked at the Pokémon not purchased on his shoulder, he hadn't expected that it would be that easy, but then he guessed that the choice between himself and being released with the chance of being recaptured by Team rocket was a generally easy one.

"Alright then, welcome to the team" Mason said with a smirk.

* * *

**Time skip**

After the little confrontation with his new Pokémon resulting in such a rapid conclusion Mason had dished out his teams breakfast out in the fresh morning air, it was still early so he knew he would have some time to spare. If Ash was sticking to the canon then chances were he'd be here around noon. That would give him some time to get the supplies that he needed and see what state the Cerulean gym was in. Worst come to worst he would have to wait for Misty so that he could actually battle for his badge.

As he had finished his food ahead of his Pokémon Mason had taken to looking over his Pokédex, something that he had found out about the day before hand that wasn't actually as rare as the games made it out to be. It had been the invention that had put Professor Oak on the map as one of the first to invent such a device, and the league had taken great interest in it. It was actually common place for most new trainers to receive one at the start of their journeys. Most trainers when they reached of age would have been given one along with their starter Pokémon by a league official in the town they grew up in, usually by the gym leader or the local nurse joy who would register them as a trainer.

It had been over the past couple of days that Mason had been looking it over more closely he had noticed some features that he was sure wasn't in the anime version and he suspected that they were upgrades that had come along because of the inter-regional co-operation scheme.

The upgrades allowed him to check not only his Pokémons known moves but also tell their genders and abilities, something that he was irritated that he hadn't noticed before now.

So while his Pokémon were still eating Mason began to point his Pokédex towards them to scan them one by one to see the extent of what he was working with, and the results didn't disappoint.

Species: Dratini

Gender: Male

Ability: Shed skin

Moves:

Wrap

Thunderwave

Twister

Dragon Rage

-.-.-.-.-

Species: Poliwhirl

Gender: Male

Ability: Swift Swim

Moves:

Water Gun

Hydro pump

Hypnosis

Bubble

Bubble beam

Double slap

-.-.-.-.-

Species: Spearow

Gender: Female

Ability: Sniper

Moves:

Peck

Fury attack

(new move) Aerial Ace- registered by Professor S Oak

Agility

Double team

-.-.-.-.-

Species: Scyther

Gender: Male

Ability: Swarm

Moves:

Vacuum Wave

Quick attack

Agility

False swipe

Wing attack

Slash

Razor wind

Double team

(new move) X-scissor- registered by Professor S Oak

-.-.-.-.-

Species: Golbat

Gender: Female

Ability: Infiltrator

Moves:

Bite

Supersonic

Wing attack

Toxic

Hyper Beam

Mason had to smirk, it seemed that the Professor had already added both Aerial Ace and X-scissor to the attack move database. He was feeling rather pleased with himself as he looked down the list of moves for each of his Pokémon, he could see that all the training had been paying off, especially for Scyther but then again the mantis Pokémon was completely obsessed when it came to training always putting in much more effort and pushing himself harder every session to become stronger, it was no surprise that with his training and knowledge of moves Scyther's move pool was as large as it was.

Mason couldn't help but snort when he saw Spearows gender, he wasn't really surprised, only a woman could hold a grudge as long as it did in the anime waiting all that time and still being angry wish Ash when he came back to pallet down after so long.

Looking over each of his teams abilities he nodded to himself, he could work with those, he knew what each of them did having begun memorizing the ability list the night before. He was not going to be caught out again like what had happened in his battle with Gary.

He smirked to himself seeing sniper and Infiltrator as two of the abilities, his mind was already swimming with how he would be able to customise both Spearows and Golbats future training to make the most out of those two gems as well as making plans to teach Poliwhirl the move Rain dance to make the most out of his swift swim ability.

* * *

**Time skip**

It was half an hour later that Mason found himself standing outside the Cerulean city gym, having decided to put off his shopping until later he wanted to see first hand if the gym and Misty's sisters were anything like the anime portrayed them to be.

Walking through the doors as they opened for him Mason walked into the reception area of the gym, he was in luck that the apparent show that the sisters were going to be putting on wasn't for a couple hours and the crowds had yet to start forming.

Walking through another set of doors Mason found himself in the main pool area with the pool raised above the ground in a glass box that allowed Mason to see inside. He could see that two of the sisters were inside the pool, he recognised them as Lily and Violet, with their blue and pink hair as they perform underwater acrobatics dressed in skimpy swimsuits that left nothing to the imagination. He could tell that they were a fair bit older than he was, maybe in their early twenties.

Mason could see why they were called the Sensational sisters, no doubt many came to their shows just to admire their beauty alone.

"Hey you!" a voice called to Mason making him look over to see the third sister, Daisy, with blond hair and wearing a red swimsuit walking over to him, "the show doesn't start for another two hours, no sneak peaks" she said sternly.

Mason frowned, "I'm not here for the show," he replied as he moved his coat back to reveal the Pokéballs on his belt, "I'm a trainer, I came here to challenge the gym" he said as he took out and flashed his badge case showing the single badge inside.

Daisy seemed to blink, "Oh I see, well that's easily sorted then" she said before whistling towards the pool getting both her sisters attention as they swam up to the top to breach before looking down at them.

"What's up Daisy?" Lily asked

"Yeah we're still trying to get this routine down" Violet added.

"We have a trainer here looking for a battle" Daisy responded gesturing to Mason.

For a brief moment Mason thought perhaps this was something different than in the anime and he was actually going to get his battle. But that hope was dashed as he saw Daisy pluck something from a small pouch on her ankle and toss it down to Daisy.

Daisy caught what was clearly the cascade badge in her hand before turning to Mason and holding her hand out, "here ya go" she said holding the tear drop shape badge out towards him.

Mason instantly scowled, "what the hell is this" he said his tone sharp as he looked at the older girl.

Daisy frowned, "the badge you came for, of course, do you want it or not" she said back her tone getting sharp as well.

Mason's scowl deepened it was just like the anime, "I came here to earn a badge, not to be given one"

Daisy seemed to sigh, "look kid, we're busy right now preparing for our show and we don't have time to battle you"

"Besides," Lily spoke from up above, "even if we wanted to we couldn't, you're not the only one to come and challenge this gym"

"Yeah," Violet spoke up from beside her sister, "we've had like ten challanges in the past two days our Pokémon are still recovering"

Mason frowned, "not all of them surely, you're gym leaders, you're meant to be the major power in this city, surely you have more than just a couple of Pokémon" he had did some reading the night before and come to the realisation that Gym leaders never really used all of their Pokémon against challengers, and depending on how many badges the challenger had the leader would use different combinations and strengths of Pokémon to test them. Mason pointed to the pool where inside there were a number of other water Pokémon swimming around, "what about them!"

"We do, but they are resting as well" Daisy said, "it's not just new trainers like you, with only one badge, that come through to challenge us you know, and those Pokémon aren't for gym battles they are for our shows, now do you want the badge or not"

"Not like this," Mason replied, "besides isn't it against the league regulations to just give a trainer a badge without battling" he stated not entirely sure on the matter.

"It is, but we won't tell if you don't" Lily said from above with a smile.

"Look kid. Gym leaders can choose to give their badges to trainers if they want, we just don't have time to battle you and all of our Pokémon are too weak right now to battle you," Daisy spoke to him as she tossed the badge to him, "so just take the badge already, it's what you came for."

Mason caught the badge and his scowl deepened, he did not want it like this, he was going to earn each and every one of his badges the right way, he wasn't going to take the easy route like Ash did in the anime, getting half his badges through luck. He tossed the badge back at her, "Keep it, I came here to battle a gym leader, to earn my badge the right way. But clearly you three are more focused on your show than actually being gym leaders" he snapped.

Daisy scowled right back, "We are not," she argued, "The show is important, it's what brings in most of the money to keep this gym running half the time, so of course we are going to focus on it when we need to"

"Don't bullshit me," Mason snapped back, "the league puts out grants to gyms on a monthly basis to help leaders keep their doors open and pay the bills," he countered, he had read about those grants the day before in the library when he was getting caught up on things.

"Well yeah," Daisy replied, "but you have no idea how much paperwork is required to sign up for those grants, besides we enjoy doing out shows and it brings in way more money than those grants," she said as she brushed her hair back.

"I knew it," Mason scowled, "you three are nothing more than just Ditzy airheads, who care more about putting on makeup and doing your hair than actually running this gym" he spat in disgust, "you're a disgrace, and the three of you have no place running a Pokémon gym" he said turning on his heels and walking back the way he came.

"Hey wait just a second," Daisy called after him, but Mason didn't stop as he continued his path out of the gym and continued on with a scowl on his face.

'Bloody airheads, I'm surprised they don't float away with how much hot air is in their heads in comparison to how small their brains are' Mason internally raged. Now he was going to have no choice whatsoever but to wait for Misty to get here so that he could have a proper battle.

As he walked in the direction of the shops he'd seen the day before he tried to calm himself down it would do him no good to continue being angry.

* * *

**Time skip **

It was half an hour later that Mason found himself walking out of one of the shops on the Main Street with a new navy blue backpack slung over his shoulder, his other gear stored inside one of the three pods that were inside it. He was more than pleased with his new purchase, the weight off his back was rather appealing.

It may have eaten up forty thousand of his fifty eight, but he knew that it would be worth the investment.

Looking up and down the high street Mason pondered on just what he was where he should go next, he had plans to buy TMs for his team but he wasn't sure totally on what to get just yet, he had plans but he wanted to refine them some more before he was absolutely certain, from what he'd seen before TMs were pricey just like in the video games and he didn't have all that much money left to spend.

As he pondered his next destination a certain familiar figure caught his eye and he smirked, 'well guess destiny really was at work' he thought to himself before he started to jog over, "hey Brock" he called.

The Pewter city gym leader turned when he heard his name called and smiled when he was who it was, "Mason, hey, Ash and Misty said you had gone on ahead,"

Mason smirked, "yeah, I take it that means there here as well and you're travelling with them?"

Brock nodded, "yeah, Ash challenged me a day or so after you, I take it he's the friend you mentioned after our battle"

Mason sighed and nodded, "yeah, I told him he needed to train more before he challenged you, I take it you mopped the gym floor with him"

Brock smirked, "well I wouldn't put it that harshly but yeah our first battle was pretty one sided, the second time he came back the next morning it was a bit of a different story when his Pikachu's electricity set off the water sprinklers mid battle"

Mason sighed, "I take it that won him the match then?" Guessing that things had played out the same way as they did in the anime.

Brock shook his head, "it would have except Ash didn't attack after that and forfeit the match, said that he didn't want to win on a fluke like that"

Mason sighed again, "and I bet you gave him the badge anyway, right?"

Brock looked surprised, "how did you know?"

Mason shook his head. "Just a guess, as much as I like Ash giving him that badge might have been a bad move, I was trying to get him to train his Pokémon properly and take being a trainer more seriously, had he lost again I'm sure that he would have just challenged your gym again on the way back to Viridian for the tournament, at least then he would have won it from you properly"

Brock frowned a little and nodded, "Misty said you were trying to do something like that before you left, but I'm sure it won't make much of a difference in the long run, gym leaders are allowed to choose who's worthy of receiving their badges and Ash showed me he had good character when he ended the match like he did"

"Character has nothing to do about being a good trainer, but I hope you're right Brock" Mason said shaking his head, so Ash was off to the same start as in the anime… he didn't really know how he felt about that but there wasn't much he could do about it now, "so, what made you decide to travel with them, don't you need someone to run your gym?"

Brock nodded, "well yeah, but it turned out my dad had been back in town for a couple of weeks, long story, but he was able to take over running the gym so that I could go travelling, you see I want to travel to learn more about Pokémon so that I can become a professional Pokémon breeder, it's always been my dream, but with my responsibility to my siblings and my families gym I just never got a chance to pursue it"

Mason smiled, "well I'm glad you're getting the chance to now" he told him honestly, "hey if you're a breeder mind if I ask you for some tips on preparing my Pokémon's food for the best nutritional value, I've only just been learning about it for about a month and I want to make sure that I'm feeding my team right so that they get the most out of it, I'm pretty sure I'm doing okay, Professor Oak gave me the recipe for Dratini but I'm not sure that it's right for my other Pokémon"

Brock nodded, "sure thing, I was actually looking for a store in particular that sells the best ingredients for making Pokémon food to fill up while Ash went to challenge the gym, you can tag along and I can walk you through things, I take it you've already gotten your badge here?" He asked

Mason smirked, "thanks that would really help me out" he said before frowning, "no, and Ash will be in for a rough time of it at that gym. Those leaders are a disgrace, they practically were offering me their gyms badge just to get me to go away"

"What!" Brock said in shock, "that's against league regulations. Did they even give a reason?"

Mason nodded, "yeah some rubbish about all of their Pokémon being too tired to battle, but I could tell they could care less about battling, all they are concerned about it their shows and their looks, they are completely shallow and couldn't care less about their gym"

"That is disgraceful, after we're done getting the supplies do you mind if we go by there? I want to see this for myself, if they are as bad as you say I'll report them to the league and have them replaced. I can't condone such trainer running a gym" Brock stated

Mason nodded, "sure thing, come on you can show me this shop you were talking about," he said as the two of them started down the street.

* * *

**Time skip **

It didn't take the pair long to locate the store. It was a small quante little shop, with not much to it. On the outside Mason thought that it looked like an old herbal remedy shop. The front store windows were lined with jars of various herbal items and different types of berries.

Walking in through the front doors with Brock the bell chimed and announced their entrance and masons nose was assaulted by the various smells that he had no idea what to make of, it was rather overwhelming at first but after a moment he seemed to adjust.

"Rather potent isn't it" he muttered to brock getting a smirk from the older teen.

"Indeed it is young man" came an old voice from the back of the store as an old woman with white hair a hunched back walked out through a fabric curtain that covered over the door into the back of the store.

She raised her walking cane and gestured to the various jars that lined the shelves that lined every wall in the square room, "the ingredients and herbs all need to be able to breath or they would start to liquidate and rot in the heat of their containers" she said before leaning on her cane once more, "now what can I do for you two today?" she asked as she began to walk over to behind a counter.

"Good afternoon ma'am, my name is Brock and this is my friend Mason, we're both Pokémon trainers and I'm an aspiring Pokémon breeder, and we were hoping to gather up some supplies to make food for our Pokémon while on the road, I'm sure you'll agree that a nutritional diet is key for a Pokémon's well being as well as it's development" Brock states politely as Mason nodded behind him.

"A pleasure to meet you both, and I couldn't agree more, that's why I opened this store in the first place so that trainers could learn how to feet and care for their Pokémon's dietary needs themselves, sadly most just prefer to buy the premade Pokémon food from the stores, so few want to take the time to make their Pokémon's food by hand anymore" she sighed wistfully.

"If you don't mind, Brock has already agreed to help me learn how to come up with better recipes for my Pokémon's food, but I could always use an experts second opinion, do you mind taking a look at my Pokémon and telling me what you think would be best?" Mason asked.

"I would be delighted young man" the old woman smiled warmly at Masons' request.

Mason nodded as he took the Pokéballs off his belt, "come on out you guys" he said as he tossed the Pokéballs out to the open floor and they opened up and Masons five Pokémon appeared in the small shop.

"Wow" Brock said as he looked over the five, "Misty told me on the road you had a Poliwag, I guess it must have evolved hm"

Mason nodded, "just the other morning actually," he confirmed.

Brock nodded, "though neither Ash nor Misty said anything about you having a Golbat on your team, a recent catch?" He asked as the old lady made her way over to examine the Pokémon.

Mason nodded, "you could say that, I ran into a little trouble the other day, some Team Rocket goons at the nugget bridge just north of the city, one of them had Golbat as their Pokémon, after I beat them I may have liberated her from their possession, it just didn't sit right with me leaving Pokémon to be used as tools for criminals" he explained as Golbat flew up to him and landed on his shoulder taking the opportunity to muzzle against the side of his head affectionately much to Spearows annoyance as she took perch on his other shoulder and did the same to his other side of his head as Mason struggled to keep standing being the perch for both Pokémon.

Brock and the old lady chuckled at his expense, "well Golbat certainly seems happy to have you as her trainer, and as much as I dislike stealing Pokémon I can't help but agree with your sentiment about Pokémon being used as tools"

"Indeed," the old woman vouched as she smiled, "these Pokémon are in the peak of health and are obviously very well trained and looked after, their trainer obviously cares for them, and with the proper diet they will only flourish, I'd be more than happy to help you with that" she said with a smile, while the five Pokémon preened under her praise.

Making her way back to the counter she took out a pad and pen as she began to write down some things, "alright now come over here and I'll start running you both through the steps on these recipes, I know the perfect ones for your Pokémon to really bring out their potentials"

Brock and Mason came over and eagerly began to listen as the old woman began to run them through the various recipes and their steps, as well as the theory behind each of them and their nutritional values.

* * *

**Time skip**

It was half an hour later that Mason and Brock we're leaving the store with their purchases stowed away in their bags along with the copied notes of everything that the old lady had told them.

Mason had also made an additional purchase of a Pokéblock case and a portable Pokéblock mixer which the old lady had recommended he use as well for during their training sessions in order to give his Pokémon extra nutrients and keep their energies up. He had also bought a large stock of berries to go along with it to heed her advice and knew he'd be working it into the routine to help with his Pokémon's training, in all it had only cost him a four thousand so he knew he'd still have plenty left to see about getting a Technical machine or two before he left to start the next leg of his journey.

"I hope you were paying attention back there, that old lady really knew her stuff, even I leaned a couple of new things from her" Brock said as the pair of them began to head to the gym as planned.

Mason nodded, "yeah, I'm looking forward to getting to try out the Pokéblock machine I got, though I might need some help in some of those food recipes she told us about"

Brock waved him off, "don't worry about it, tonight at the centre I'll show you how to set everything up and we can go through each of the recipes, I'm going to have to learn that one for poison and flying types after all, with my new Zubat, I've never had to before"

Mason chuckled, "true, hey Brock I was wondering why did you only bring your Onix and Geodude along with you on this trip, surely you have other Pokémon at the gym"

Brock nodded, "I do Mason, but there are other Pokémon that can fill in for geodude and onix, if I had taken any of the others it would have left my dad in a bit of a pickle if a stronger trainer with more than three gym badges came by to challenge for the badge, I take it you know how the strength rankings work for the gyms?"

Mason nodded, "yeah, trainers with below theee gym badges get handicaps, facing the leaders weaker Pokémon, after three badges the strength goes up, and after five badges the strength goes up again, it's to make it harder on them to prepare them for the league"

Brock nodded, "that's right and in the past couple of years the regulations have changed yet again with trainers coming over from other regions to challenge our gyms, the leagues have been introduced a new ranking system for trainers and depending on what rank you are the gyms will get even tougher," he explained.

Mason arched an eyebrow, "how so?" He asked curious about this as he hadn't read that far into the records.

"Well depending on your ranking the first gym in a region could battle you with the numbers or strength of what trainers would normally face the fifth gym, the more experienced your ranking says you are the less likely the leaders are going to cut you any slack in your battle with them" Brock explained.

Mason whistled, "sounds hard, but I can see why they'd do it like that, no sense in an experienced trainer pulling their first badge in a new region in a two on two battle versus weak Pokémon that a new trainer would struggle to beat,"

Brock nodded, "I suspect that's what the leagues are thinking, and it's why I was confident in giving Ash my badge even without him winning it properly, he'll face tougher challenges before the league he's sure to prove himself worthy of the badge before too long"

Mason nodded while internally wondering if that would prove to be true, if Ash would rise to the challenge, or if he'd crumple and fail when things got too tough for him, this league was certainly sounding far tougher than what he'd seen in the anime. He was certain that before too long even he'd be running into difficulties, but he was confident that he'd be able to push through them his team was coming along well and he was certain that they'd be able to combat any challenge, Ash, he'd have to wait and see.

Soon enough the pair of them found themselves arriving at the cerulean gym just as the crowd was leaving after the show. They waited until the crowd had thinned before they began to make their way inside.

As they made their way onto the main floor where Mason had spoken to the sisters before they came across a rather heated argument in progress.

"I came here to battle for a badge, not be given one" they heard the voice before they had even entered the area.

Ash was standing pointing at the three sisters clearly upset as Daisy was once again holding out a badge in her hand.

"Oh come on, we've already tried explaining it to you, we can't battle you" Daisy said rolling her eyes, "all our Pokémon are in the Pokémon centre, so just quit being so stubborn and take the badge or get lost already"

Mason had to blink for a second, this was rather different than what had happened in the anime, Ash had actually been ready to take the badge in the anime, but now he was refusing and wanted to earn it. Mason couldn't help but feel a little bit of respect, for Ash because of that. 'Hmm, perhaps there's hope for you yet Ash' he thought to himself.

"So it is true," Brock said from beside him, not looking to pleased as he started over to the scene, Mason keeping pace beside him.

His words catching the eye of the three sisters and Ash.

"And just who are you," Daisy said looking to Brock before recognising Mason, "hey you're that kid from before, what rethink your decision well that's just too…" she began to say before Mason cut her off.

"Not a chance," Mason sneered, "there's no way I would disgrace my Pokémon by just accepting a badge, not when my team has been training hard so that they could prove their strength and earn a badge properly" he stated firmly.

That was when Brock stepped forward, "you three are a disgrace, and you dare call yourselves Gym leaders" he said a hardness in his voice that surprised Mason.

"And just who are you," Daisy sneered back at Brocks hard glare.

"I'm Brock Harrison, the former leader of the Pokémon Gym in Pewter City" Brock said with a glare, "just what the hell are you three thinking, giving out Pokémon badges just because your Pokémon can't battle, you know that is against league policy"

"Whatever, the league's policy states that a gym leader can choose to give their badge to whoever they judge fit, so we're not technically breaking any rules" Daisy said dismissively while both her sisters look a little worried about another gym leader catching them giving badges out.

"That is for when trainers prove themselves, and even then you have to notify the league when you do so" Brock stated his tone unwavering, "just giving badges out throws the whole system off. The former leader of this gym would be disgusted by how you three are disgracing his gym"

Both Lily and Violet looked like someone had just slapped them with that comment as Daisy glared hatefully back, "And just what the hell would you know about it hm, don't you dare speak about our father. You didn't know him."

"I didn't, but my father did, and he spoke highly of the man and his skill in battles, and his belief in the system that the gyms represented, and yet you three disgrace both him and his gym by you just giving away his gyms badges" Brock said his tone no less hard.

A look of pain crossed Daisy's face at Brocks statement, and she looked to be ready to retort before another voice interrupted her.

"WHAT!"

All of them looked up to the sound of the voice to see Misty standing at the top of the seating area with a look of absolute rage on her face, "What do you mean "give away badges"!" she yelled sounding even angrier than the looked.

""Misty"" Both Lily and Violet spoke in shock seeing her while Daisy just blinked before rolling her eyes, "oh it's just you" she said sounding unimpressed.

Misty glowered at her sisters before she came storming down the steps and jumped the railing at the bottom and landed on the floor, her scowl still on her face, "Answer me Daisy, what is he talking about!"

Daisy rolled her eyes again, "What do you care, last I checked you took off on your own little journey, as far as I'm concerned you gave up any say about what we do here when you left"

"I left to train and become a better water Pokémon trainer you know that" Misty snarled back

Daisy scoffed, "Oh please, you left because you could never step out of the three of our shadows, you were jealous and threw a temper tantrum and left when you couldn't get your way with no daddy to run crying to" she said harshly

Both Lily and Violet gasped, "Daisy!", "That's going to far!"

"Oh don't give me that!" Daisy turned on them, "you know she was always his favorite of the four of us, mom may have doted on us more but she was always daddy's little girl"

"You know that's not true!" Misty snapped her voice starting to shake at the memories of her father, she knew it was, her father always tended to her more when she was younger while her sisters were away with their mom.

"Yes it is," Daisy snapped back, "ever since that incident with Dads Gyarados when you got scared, he always favored you more"

"That's because he blamed himself and was worried about her" Lily argued getting angry herself at how Daisy was speaking about their father.

"He may have tended to her more but he was always there for the rest of us Daisy, you know that" Violet argued right alongside her sister.

"Oh please, if he blamed anyone it was me," Daisy snapped, "because I was the one ment to be watching Misty when it happened, he never treated me the same after that"

"And so this is your way of getting back at him" Mason stated in realisation from the side having listened to everything that had been said and was starting to see that some things were different from the canon, "by ruining his gyms reputation."

"Shut your mouth!" Daisy snapped at Mason angrily, "I would never do that, not on purpose! He may not have treated me the same but he was still my dad. I've already explained why we can't battle, it's going to take at least another two days before our Pokémon are fit for battling again after their last battles"

"Then you should have posted a notice of that instead of just handing out badges," Brock stated firmly.

"And miss out on two days worth of shows, forget it," Daisy said rolling her eyes.

Misty snorted, "you always did care more about shows than you did about the gym itself."

"Well what do you expect!" Daisy snapped, "while dad was always happy for you to join him when he was training his Pokémon for the gym battles, we were with mom practicing with her with both out Pokémon and joining her in her shows. This gym has always done both side by side to show both the beauty and strength of water Pokémon"

Mason frowned he was starting to see now just how this rift between the sisters had came about and rubbed the bridge of his nose as he felt a headache coming on, 'Family drama's can be so troublesome'

"Then if you aren't going to battle I will" Misty snapped, the conversation having continued on while Mason was trying to soothe his headache, "I'm still registered as one of the gym leaders here so if you three aren't going to step up I will"

"Fine then," Daisy snapped, "then you can battle these two, if they are so set on battling for their badges might as well give them an easy win to get them out of our hair" she said dismissively.

Both Violet and Lily exchanged looks and nodded to one another before they both stepped up to Daisy both hooking an arm of hers before they began to drag her away, "we need to talk Daisy" Lily said, "like right now" Violet added.

"Hey what are you both doing!" Daisy yelled as she was pulled away.

Misty sighed at the scene before she turned to both Mason and Ash, "So what will it be, are you two ready to battle or not!"

Mason nodded, "Yeah I am, but since Ash was the one making the challenge he can go against you first, will you have enough Pokémon to battle us both?" he asked

Misty nodded, "Yeah I do don't worry" she said confirming as she began to walk over to the pool.

Mason looked to Ash and gave him a smirk, "good luck Ash, you're going to need it" he smirked before looking to Brock, "come on we can watch from the stands" he said gesturing to the seats.

* * *

**Scene break**

It took a little while for both Ash and Misty to get into position and to get the floating platforms out onto the water so Mason and Brock had more than enough time to find the way up to the seating area. And just as the battle was about to begin they were joined by Lily, Violet and a rather subdued looking Daisy.

Mason arched an eyebrow, 'hmmm, guess her sisters must have really ripped into her about what she said, hopefully they got through to her' he thought to himself before he focused more on the battle that was just starting.

The battle played out for the most part just as Mason remembered it from the anime, with Ash's first choice being Pikachu, only for the small yellow Pokémon to refuse to battle a friend. Mason wanted to sigh, as much as he liked Pikachu it was clear that Ash needed to learn to be a bit more firmer on his Pokémon. He knew it sounded harsh but the fact of the matter was Ash let himself get trod on by his Pokémon and that was what lead to trouble down the road.

He watched on as Ash sent out butterfree as his first choice against misty's staryu, and Mason could tell that Misty was a lot more skilled here than she was in the anime, as she instantly ordered Staryu into the water as soon as Ash called for a tackle attack and countered with a rapid water gun.

Mason watched as butterfree dodged and weaved through the water gun attacks, he could see that there had been some results from its training with his poliwag but it was clear that Staryu was much better trained as the attacks got a lot faster quickly and soon Butterfree hit the water and was struggling to stay afloat only to get slammed by a quick rapid spin from Staryu putting it out of commission.

Misty smirked, "you're going to have to do better than that if you want to win Ash, I'm no pushover"

Mason smirked and he could hear Misty's sisters mutter between themselves he could hear that they were impressed with Misty's battling and use of her environment to her advantage.

The battle continued as Ash called out Pidgeotto and Misty swapped out Staryu for Starmie and instantly went for the same strategy again as she ordered Starmie into the water of the pool and then to begin to attack from its cover.

Pidgeotto however was quicker and was able to dodge each attack that came its way from the purple star Pokémon as it spun out of the water to attack over and over. And on the final one Ash ordered a counter with Gust which caught Starmie as it came in for another attack and blew it back and out of the pool to slam against the wall hard.

Misty was about to give another order when things started to shake and with a loud crash, what Mason could only describe as a large tank with a long hose broke through the far side of the gym wall and into the main stadium, he could only just about make it out from where he was seated.

"What's going on!" Daisy yelled as she and her sisters stood up from their seats in shock.

Mason scowled as he stood up his hand already going for his Pokéballs picking out two of them.

"Prepare for trouble," "make it double" the two familiar voices began to sound as two figured began to rise out of the body of the tank on a raised platform.

"Oh will you give it a rest!" Mason yelled as he tossed his Pokéballs out, "Dratini, Dragon Rage, Golbat, Hyper Beam. Blast those idiots away!" he ordered, not in the mood to deal with their antics

"Hey that's rude!" Jessie yelled! "Yeah where are your manners!" James agreed as Mason's Pokémon burst from their balls, Dratini dropping into the water before coming up as it gathered its draconic energy to attack, with Golbat appearing in the air as it instantly gathered energy for its hyper beam.

Team Rocket never stood a chance. The Draconic ball of purple flames smacked into the machine behind them and blew it up launching the trio off their contraption and onto the floor from the shock wave, before Golbat released its Hyper Beam from above hitting the ground and blasting both Team Rocket and their machine launching them out of the gym and sending the trio skyward.

"Wow!" was the general consensus going around in the wake of the double attack as all eyes went to Mason.

"And you said you only had one badge" Daisy said looking at Mason in a new light,"Where did that come from?"

Mason shrugged, "I just have a very low tolerance when it comes to dealing with those idiots" he offered as explanation, 'Plus this way Pikachu has no way to show off its OP electrical attack, and so the sisters have no reason to give Ash his badge anyway, meaning Ash will have to earn it the right way' he internally thought to himself. "Now that those idiots are done with lets get back to the battle," he said as he recalled both Dratini and Golbat to their balls.

"Oh yeah," Misty said realising she was still in a battle, "Starmie, back in the water!" she ordered quickly.

Starmie moved to obey but was weakened greatly by its crash and the gust attack had blown away all the moisture on its body giving it no water to draw energy from.

"Don't let it Pidgeotto, use Wing attack, knock it back!" Ash ordered as Starmie was nearing the edge of the pool ready to jump in only to be met by Pidgeottos wing hard across its gem knocking it way from the pool once more and this time it's light went out.

Misty frowned as she recalled starmie, "alright then it's down to this" she said as she called Staryu out once more, instantly having it jump into the water as the battle began anew.

Mason sat back and sighed, not paying attention to the battle now, he didn't exactly care for the result, because he knew that at least now Ash would earn his victory either way. Misty knew of Pikachu's strength and with Ash defeating at least one of her Pokémon, she would be able to concede he could have won both if Pikachu had battled, it wasn't a total win but it was still a win and at least the battle would actually have a proper victor this time.

And it did. Much like the first battle Misty ordered staryu to attack at range from the water but Pidgeotto was to fast for its ranged moves, and when Misty ordered staryu to get closer to attack physically it ended up the same as Starmie when it was caught in a gust from pidgeotto and launched out of the air and crashing down hard on the water platform only to get slammed with a wing attack when it tried to get back up, ending the second battle.

And like that Ash had actually earned his second badge the right way. Mason smirked, it would be his turn next and he was looking forward to it.


	9. Chapter 9

Hey all, sorry for the delay in this chapter going up, I was just really preoccupied yesterday with a tone of things, it just all seemed to keep piling up. And then on top of that I kept getting distracted with the planning for the YouTube challenge that me and my mates are planning to start, I never realised just how much work would be needed to get everything set up for it, seeing as we're planning to make a whole big thing out of it. I'm not going to lie and say that it won't happen again and won't effect my future writing and posting because it probably will, but I'll try to keep it from doing so too much.

Also please read the author's notes at the end as there will be a small announcement for everyone

* * *

**Chapter 9**

**Battle of the serpents**

Mason soon found himself standing on the platform floating on the surface of the pool and was grateful that he knew how to swim; otherwise he would have been a little worried about falling in with how shakey the platform was. But he figured that was something that the gym used to offset the challenging trainers as the gym leader would have been used to battling on this field.

Looking across the water to the other platform Mason smirked at Misty, looking forward to this battle.

"I hope you're ready Misty, because I don't intend on losing here!" Mason called over as he plucked one of his pokeballs from his belt.

Misty smirked back at him, "oh it's you who should be worrying about losing Mason, because I'm in my element here. You're about to find out just how powerful water Pokémon can be" she said as she tossed her own pokeball out and out of it Goldeen appeared and took into the water swimming around with speed.

Mason smirked, "This battle is going to be interesting then," he said before tossing his own pokeball out, "Poliwhirl, ready for battle!" he called as Poliwhirl appeared standing on the platform in a ready stance.

"Oh!" Misty said in surprise, "I see Poliwag evolved, Congratulations to you both. Polwhirl is looking very strong now, you've clearly raised him well"

Mason nodded, "yeah, thanks. I'll fill you in on the details later" he said as he widened his stance to keep his balance, "lets get this started shall we, ladies first~"

"Such a gentlemen" Misty giggled, "Alright Goldeen let's show him what a water Pokémon can do, go Supersonic"

Goldeen immediately rose up from the water and began letting out high pitched waves of sound from her mouth towards Poliwhirl.

"Poliwhirl jump into the water to dodge" Mason ordered not wanting to risk his Pokémon getting confused.

Poliwhirl obeyed and jumped quickly into the water to avoid the sonic attack.

"Big mistake, go attack with Horn Attack!" Misty called with a smirk.

Goldeen obeyed as she shot towards Poliwhirl with incredible speed her horn lowered, primed for an attack. Mason could see Misty had trained the fish Pokémon well.

"Counter with Double Slap!" Mason ordered quickly.

Goldeen's attack continued as she shot towards Poliwhirl who readied himself as the sharp horn came at him and he thrust out his open palm, as it connected with the fish Pokémon side and knocked her off course just in time, before he thrust his other palm out, connecting to deal further damage.

"Don't give up, circle around and use Fury Attack!" Misty ordered hastily

Goldeen heard and obeyed as she recovered from the slaps and sped around Poliwhirl in a circle and began to thrust her horn towards the larger Pokémon with speed catching Poliwhirl in his side.

Mason gritted his teeth, Goldeen was fast, and with Misty's fast commands she wouldn't be easy to counter, he needed to slow her down. "Poliwhirl, counter with Double slap again and then follow up with Hypnosis!"

As Goldeen went in for another thrust of her horn, Polywhirl moved out of the way just in time and caught the fish with another thrust of his palm to the side of her body, followed by a second that sent her up and around disorienting her.

"Look out Goldeen!" Misty called in warning, but it was too late.

As soon as Goldeen began to get her bearings she came face to face with Poliwhirl who's eyes began to glow as he launched Hypnosis and within half a second Goldeen was asleep in the water.

"Alright, now launch her out of the water with Hydro Pump, and follow it!" Mason ordered seeing his way to win.

Poliwhirl obeyed as he pulled back both his arms and fired the condenses stream of water from his centre catching Goldeen and launching her out of the pool before shooting up after her.

"Goldeen!" Misty called in worry.

"End it, Double Slap, both hands at the same time!" Mason ordered.

Misty could only watch as Poliwhirl drew back both his arms and thrust his palms forward both catching Goldeen full on and launching her back down to crash into the floating platform which sunk for a moment under the water before coming back up revealing Goldeen laying on it unconcious.

Mason grinned, "one down" he said to himself as Poliwhirl landed back on its own platform.

Misty sighed as she recalled her Pokémon and uttered soft words to it before putting it back in her bag and looked to Mason, "well well Mason, colour me impressed, that was very impressive, you sure I can't talk you into becoming a water Pokémon trainer full time, with how well you've trained Poliwhirl it's obvious you have a knack for it~" she said, seeming to get over her first loss to him.

Mason smirked and shook his head, "sorry Misty, no can do. I'll leave that to you, you're the water specialist after all" he complimented her back.

Misty giggled as she took out her next pokeball, "oh hush you, don't think sweet talking me is going to make me go easy on you in this next round"

Mason smirked, "wouldn't dream of it" he replied, internally wondering what her next Pokémon would be, if he remembered correctly Misty only had three Pokémon at the start in the anime, and with both Staryu and Starmie out of commision after her battle with Ash he didn't know who the fourth could be.

Up in the stands Daisy, Lily and Violet sat together watching the battle unfold. Needless to say, the three of them were impressed by what they had seen in the last battle and in this one.

"Misty sure has grown up hasn't she" Lily commented as they watched.

"Yeah for sure, she's definitely got as much skill as the three of us when it comes to battling" Violet countered.

Daisy nodded with a sigh, "yeah she may have skills but its experience that wins in a battle"

Her sisters nodded, "that Mason sure is something though," Lily commented

Violet nodded, "yeah, that Poliwhirl of his is no slouch, he's clearly trained it well"

Daisy sighed, "I feel a little bad about trying to just give him the badge now, with how he's battling it's clear that he's worked hard on training his Pokémon, I can see why he refused me now"

Lily nodded, "yeah, but at least he's getting his battle now"

Violet smirked, "and Misty seems to have really taken a liking to him, I don't think I've seen her act that way around a boy, ever" she said as she glanced at her sisters and they glanced back.

"Tease her after this?" Daisy asked

"Oh definitely," Lily nodded in agreement.

"What kind of big sisters would we be if we didn't" Violet smirked before the three of them burst into giggles.

Back down at the pool Misty smirked as she took out another ball from her back that Mason recognised as an ultra ball making him arch an eyebrow at seeing in as Misty gave him a grin.

"You may have beaten my last Pokémon Mason but you won't beat this one," Misty said as she held out the ball, "and I can guarantee if I had used this one in my match with Ash he wouldn't have won so easily either" she said confidently.

Mason smirked at the challenge, "we'll let's see it then, I've been looking forward to a challenge"

Misty smirked, "you'll be sorry you said that"

Up in the stands her three older sisters were exchanging worried looks between them, "isn't that…" Violet asked.

Daisy nodded, "yep"

"She must really be taking this seriously," Lily said as they continued to watch.

Mason braced himself for whatever water Pokémon Misty was going to use but nothing could prepare him for what was about to come.

Misty tossed the ball as the called out the words that made Masons eyes widen, "Misty calls Gyarados!" As the ball burst open and the massive sea serpent appeared with a massive roar before it dove into the waters of the pool.

Mason had to steady himself as the waves almost caused his platform to capsize, his eyes still wide with shock from what he had heard and seen. 'A freaking Gyrados, how the hell does she have that!' He internally panicked as the large beast rose from the water towering over both him and Poliwhirl, his red eyes glaring down at them both.

Mason swallowed hard, 'okay Mason calm down, you asked for a challenge and you got one. Now man up and deal with it, even if that challenge is the biggest freaking beast you've ever seen in your life' he told himself as he looked up at the massive sea serpent that looked like he could swallow him and Poliwhirl in one bite.

The thing was huge, at least seventeen feet tall and that was only the part that he could see out of the water and he was sure there was probably more that he couldn't see.

He could practically feel the strength radiating from it, and he wasn't sure if that was real or it's intimidate ability but he was beginning to doubt his ability to actually win, but quickly blinked and shook his head to snap out of it and looked back at the large sea serpent with a determined look.

Misty seemed to smile, "wow, I'm really impressed now, not many would be able to snap out of Gyarados's ability like that, most would just wet themselves at the sight of him and give up, but you broke through it in record time" she commented,

Mason smirked, "thanks, I do make it a habit of breaking people's expectations, shall we get back to the battle now"

Misty smirked, "sure thing, I was just waiting on you," she said before getting a serious look in her eye, "Gyarados, let's win this, use Dragon Rage!"

Masons eyes widen, "dodge it Poliwhirl, and use Hydro Pump" he ordered thinking fast, he had to deal as much damage as possible as well as keep Poliwhirl as far away from Gyarados as possible.

Poliwhirl did just that dodging just in time as Gyrados fired his draconic attack that impacted the small platform that he'd been standing on and jumped into the air and fired back with a powerful torrent of water which hit Gyarados right in his face making the large sea serpent rear back from the impact.

"Show then to do a real Hydro Pump!" Misty ordered confidently.

And almost immediately Gyarados came right back, his huge maw open as water swelled up, Mason didn't even have a chance to tell Poliwhirl to dodge before the powerful blast of water launched with pressure to spare, it was almost five times as powerful as the one that Poliwhirl had used and four times as large as it caught Poliwhirl just as he landed back on the platform and lifted him clean off his feet and shot him backwards.

The attack cleared the pool and smacked Poliwhirl into the wall behind Mason causing spiderweb cracks to form from the impact. When the torrent of water finally came to a halt Poliwhirl was left embedded in the wall his arms and legs spread eagle and his eyes glassy and unfocused as he let out pained moans.

Mason could only stare in shock at what he had just seen before he clenched his fist and swallowed as he raised Poliwhirls pokeball and returned him to it. And looked back at Gyarados with a hard look in his eyes.

Back up in the stands Brock had a narrowed gaze as he looked down at the battle while Ash just gawked at that.

"I… I didn't know Misty had a Pokémon like that," Ash said completely shocked as Pikachu huddled in just jacket to keep out of sight of the large sea serpent, "where did she get it"

"From our father" Daisy said hearing his question.

"That's the same Gyarados that scared Misty all those years ago," Lily added as she watched the battle as well.

"Dad made sure to show Misty that Gyarados would never hurt her and the two of them became friends over the years, so when dad passed away he left him to her" Violet explained.

Daisy nodded, "Gyarados has always had a soft spot for Misty ever since he scared her, and he's undoubtedly one of the top four strongest Pokémon in this gym, right next to my Blastoise, Violet's Dewgong, or Lily's Seadra," she explained, "so it's no surprise that he's strong, and there's no denying that he's only gotten stronger since Misty became his trainer, and she was right," she added as she gave Ash a side glance, "had she used him in your match there was no way you would have won, your friend is in for a hell of a challenge if he's going to try to win this"

Ash gulped, not even daring to argue, and looked back down at the pool a little worried for Masons chances of winning but at the same time made a mental note to never piss misty off again, not if she could sick that beast on him.

Mason meanwhile was mentally trying to come up with a strategy to use against this obviously overpowered and battle hardened Gyarados. He knew that Spearow was our, as fast and as small as she was, Gyarados would pick her out of the air with a single shot, and that meant Golbat was out as well, not only did he not have any battle experience with her but he couldn't afford a wild card at the moment, and as handy as her toxic and Hyper beam would be they were no guarantees for a win against an opponent this strong.

Scyther was also out, with no solid ground to stand on or to use to evade he would be a sitting duck out there and wouldn't be able to get enough speed boosts to avoid the powerful attack that would follow, and if he went to boost his attack right off it would be the exact same.

That left only one option.

"Dratini! Ready for battle!" Mason called as he tossed his starts ball out onto the floating platform as he called out the small blue dragon, getting looks of shock from both Misty, her sister's and Ash.

"What's Mason thinking sending Dratini out against Gyarados, What's it meant to do against that!" Ash said in shock.

The sisters looked equally as concerned, "a last ditch attempt maybe", "he should have just forfeited is he knows he can't win", "this is bad"

Brock however watched the scene for a moment longer before shaking his head, "I don't think so, Mason isn't the kind of guy to rush into things without a plan and get his Pokémon hurt like that"

"But come on Brock what can Dratini possibly do" Ash asked not seeing how Dratini could possibly win.

Brock just shook his head, "I'm not sure, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see"

Misty was looking confused and concerned for a moment and thought that maybe she had misjudged Mason, but then she saw the hard look in his eyes and she flinched, he was pissed.

"Dratini," Mason said as he pointed his finger at Gyarados, "this one hurt Poliwhirl, let's show him what happens when you hurt one of us"

Dratini seemed to gain a hard look in his eyes at that statement as it glared at the much larger Pokémon, it was clear that the small dragon shared the same sentiment as his master, and although he knew the battle would be tough was ready to give it his all.

"Taking this kind of personally aren't you" Misty said jokingly with a nervous chuckle at Masons tone, before getting serious again, "but if it's a grudge match you want then we'll give you a good one, Gyarados use Hydro Pump!"

"Dodge by diving into the water!" Mason immediately ordered not wasting time as he knew what was coming.

Dratini obeyed and threw himself into the water just as the torrent of water shot overhead.

"Trying to beat me under water? Not going to work, after it Gyarados!" Misty ordered as Gyarados submerged after the small dragon.

Mason gave a small smirk as he did and Misty's eyes narrowed wondering why, she didn't have to wait long.

"Dratini, use thunderwave!" Mason bellowed to be heard by all, and Misty's eyes widened with horror and realisation.

Under the water Dratini heard and paused in the water as the large sea serpent swam towards him before Dratini let out a powerful electric shock wave that ripples through the water and caught the surprised Pokémon in its wake.

"Gyarados!" Misty called in worry seeing her strongest Pokémon begin to thrash in the water from the electrical current passing through the water.

"Now use twister!" Mason ordered as Misty looked worried.

Almost instantly the waters of the pool began to thrash around as draconic winds seemed to poor out of Dratini as the waters began to swirl around and began to form a maelstrom in the water, the winds pushing the water forcefully around as Mason and Misty were both hard pressed to keep their balance.

"Gyrados," Misty called, far from ready to throw in the towel, "fight back with your own twister!" She called

And then things only proceeded to get tougher as the waters seemed to clash against each other as the two forces of draconic winds seemed to battle between one another as both Pokémon seems to rise up to the surface, the winds seem to deflect the other's as they did so. It was unclear who was winning this test of draconic strength as neither seemed to be giving ground.

Up in the stands Ash, Brock and the sisters seemed to be having a rough time as the winds blew throughout the room as they tried to keep watching the match.

Pikachu has taken to huddling deeper into Ash's jacket to shield himself from the winds.

Masons hard look hadn't left his face as he struggled to keep his platform from sinking in the rough currents, "Dratini! Use Dragon Rage!"

"Use Dragon rage too!" Misty ordered right back

Almost instantly the winds began to die down as both serpent Pokémon drew their heads back and gathered the draconic energies to their maws and launched the purple fire balls at one another, they impacted midfield causing a large explosion from the combined attacks.

The explosion almost caused both Masons and Misty's platforms to over turn, "don't give him an inch, fire again" Mason ordered.

"You too Gyarados!" Misty parroted.

Dratini did as Mason ordered as it drew back its head to charge another attack, but when Gyarados went to do the same suddenly he began to writhe in pain as sparks of electricity sparked off his body.

Misty's eyes widened, "Gyarados!"

Up in the stands Brock nodded, "so that was Mason's plan" he said in realisation as the sisters and Ash looked to him, "Mason knew that Gyarados was both strong and fast, there was no way he would be able to win without taking one of those two factors out of play, and banked on Misty's over confidence in her element to play to his advantage, now Dratini has the speed advantage with the possibility of Gyarados completely missing out on attacks at crucial moments. It's a well thought out strategy"

Because of Gyarados's paralysis it wasn't able to attack or avoid the incoming attack and as a result the purple ball of draconic flames met its mark, hitting Gyarados right across his face and knocking the massive serpent back.

"Don't let up, fire again" Mason said pressing his advantage, he knew one shot wouldn't be enough to bring down that titan he needed to take every shot whenever he could.

"Counter with Fire Blast!" Misty yelled making Masons eyes widen again as this time Gyarados wasn't paralysed and was able to gather crimson flames in its mouth before letting them loose towards Dratini.

"Dive into the water" Mason ordered in a hurry, but it was too little too late.

The attacks collided and the inferno of crimson swallowed the violet fireball and continued on, Dratini wasn't able to move in time and got caught in the wall of flames letting out a pained cry as he was thrown back and into the water.

"Dratini!" Mason yelled his eyes wide as Dratini went below the water he felt his stomach knot as he stepped forward to dive in but came up short when Dratini emerged from the water looking battered and burned but still able to fight.

Up in the stands Brock let out a sigh, "that was a close one, Dratini only just managed to avoid the worst of the damages by falling into the water, had he not been thrown back like that, that fire blast would have ended things, Mason needs to be careful, it's clear that Gyarados has a well versed moveset to counter most types that a trainer would normally bring to battle water types."

Mason looked to his partner with concern, "Dratini can you still battle?" He asked getting a determined cry in response making mason nod before he looked at Gyarados again his eyes narrowed as he began formulating another plan in his head, that maelstrom from before having given him an idea, "Alright, now use Agility in the water, circle Gyarados and use Twister while moving"

Dratini nodded and with a cry took off at speed as it began to channel the draconic energy inside it as the winds began to whip up and the water began to stir and thrash.

Misty frowned as she narrowed her eyes as the tried to work out what Mason was up to, before the realisation hit he, "Gyarados, stop it with Hydro Pump!"

Gyarados moves to obey but when he went to fire the attack failed as once again sparks or electricity sparked over his body as the paralysis effect prevented him from attacking.

"Try again!" Misty ordered in a frantic hurry, but it was too late.

By this point Dratini had gained too much momentum and the draconic winds had grown to powerful. the water began to swirl around, throwing Gyarados off balance as the strong currents began to fully form into a large focused maelstrom with Gyarados at its epicentre, being battered by both the draconic winds and the harsh currents that followed them.

"Gyarados!" Misty called in worry her eyes closed as she tried to keep herself from being thrown off her platform by the waters, only the cables connecting hers and Masons platforms to the pool walls kept them from being pulled in by the strong currents.

"Keep it up Dratini!" Mason ordered as he did the same, he knew that he needed to keep the pressure on, it he let up Misty could counter, he'd been lucky with two paralysis so close to the other, he couldn't afford to waste that kind of luck.

The waters kept churning and thrashing as Dratini kept circling but after a minute Mason could see from where he was that they were starting to slow and Dratini was getting tired from the constant bombardment, Gyarados was looking a lot worse for ware, Mason just hoped that it would be enough, it was now or never.

"Dratini, end this now, use Dragon Rage!" Mason yelled.

Misty was getting desperate she needed to do something to end this now, and when she heard Mason call his attack she knew what she needed to do, "Gyarados, Hyper Beam!"

As the waters began to lesson drastically as Dratini pulled away exhausted as he readied his attack, Gyarados managed to break free of the maelstrom and upon hearing Misty's command reared back his head as he pooled in his energy, the paralysis did not happen a third time and the beam fired true. While Dratini fired the strongest Dragon Rage he could.

The resulting explosion when the two attacks met shook the room as water exploded from the pool from the shock wave of the attacks collision. Misty and Mason were violently thrown from their platforms as the water was sucked down into the void left by the water being displaced.

Those in the stands had to put their hands and arms up to try to shield themselves as the water fell soaking the entire seating area.

Mason and Misty both emerged from the water at the same time both gasping for breath as they looked about the pool in shock.

The water level in the pool had gone down by a good seven feet, and there in the centre of the pool were both the unconscious forms of Dratini and Gyarados.

Both trainers swam over to check on their Pokémon worries for their well being after such a battle, but both were relieved to see that they were both just unconscious, and Mason was pleased to see that the burns on Dratini from before had vanished entirely, 'shed skin for the win again, no wonder he was able to hold out so long' Mason thought to himself as he cradled Dratini in his arms as he kept himself a float by kicking alone.

Misty let out a sigh seeing that Gyarados was okay just exhausted and a little banged up nothing too serious. She looked over and smiled seeing Mason cradling Dratini like he was and couldn't help but feel her disappointment at her loss fade away and be replaced with a warm feeling in her chest, she didn't mind losing to such a great trainer like Mason who obviously cared for his Pokémon.

"Congratulations Mason, you won" Misty smiled.

Mason chuckled, "I don't know if you noticed Misty but we both lost there," he mused but couldn't find a reason to be disappointed in that loss after all both his Pokémon has given it their all against a Pokémon much stronger than them both.

Misty nodded, "that may be so, but like my sisters said before, gym leaders are allowed to make exceptions for trainers that they deem worthy, and you most certainly are, no one has ever pushed me as hard as you did just now, nor gone as far against Gyarados like you did, I'd say both those make this battle your win" she said as she floated over and held out her hand with the cascade badge in it.

Mason looked down at the badge and frowned, he had said that he didn't want a badge without properly earning it but looking down at Dratini he couldn't help but feel that they had, maybe not outright but he'd like to see anyone else do as well as his team did having only been training as long as he had.

Nodding softly Mason reached out and took the badge, "Alright, thank you Misty, but I swear we will be training even harder after this to become stronger, we will be worthy of this badge, I swear"

Misty smiled seeing the fire in his eyes and the dedication in his voice, he meant that he was determined to succeed and Misty knew he would follow through on his promise.

* * *

**Time skip **

After recalling both of their Pokémon back to their pokeballs the two of them helped each other to climb out of the pool seeing as how the water drop made it hard for either of them to get out on their own.

As they touched down in the ground they were met by the others coming down to greet them with towels.

Mason gladly took his and began to dry his hair and face, he'd need to change his clothes too, luckily he had some in his bag that he had left with Brock so it was fine.

"That was a brilliant match Mason, I didn't know Dratini could even do that" Ash commented as Mason dried himself off.

"Indeed that was a terrific match, both of you should be proud of your Pokémon," Brock complemented with a smile, "great strategy using Dratini"

Mason nodded as he rested the towel over his shoulders, "yeah we'll Dratini was really the only choice left to me, both Spearow and Golbat would have been plucked out of the air, and there was no room for Scyther to manoeuvre on the platforms even with its wings, Dratini was the only option left to me,"

"Well it was the right call," Daisy commented with a smile before frowning, "listen, I'm sorry about insulting you before by offering you the badge for free, me and my sisters have talked and…" she said before sighing.

"We've come to an agreement that we're going to spit the gym responsibly between us and take it a week about for gym battles and performances," Lily smiles as she spoke up.

"One of us will handle the gym battles, one of us will handle performances with the Pokémon, and the other will handle all the paperwork of both, and we'll work on rotation to keep everything even" Violet said cheerfully.

"Daisy has even volunteered to handle the first week of paperwork duty" Lily chirped with glee, while a storm cloud seemed to appear over Daisy's head as she slumped.

Something told Mason that she hadn't so much volunteered for the first week and was more press ganged into it as punishment by her two other sisters for the things she had said earlier.

"That's great, at least there will be no more repeats of handing out badges like you did before, with this system everything should run smoothly" Brock agreed.

"About time if you ask me" Misty sniped, "you three should have been doing this from the start"

"And of course this also means that you'll be able to continue your travelling Misty, and become a great water Pokémon trainer" Lily smiled.

Mistys personally did a complete one eighty at that and she smiled, "really," she said before clearing her throat, "good, because the last thing I want is to be stuck here bailing you three out of your messes," she smirked.

"Of course" Violet smiled, "we wouldn't want to keep you from your boyfriend after all~"

"You and Mason do so make a cute couple~" Lily giggled.

"Maybe he'll finally be able to tame that wild streak of yours and make you into a proper lady" Daisy comments not wanting to be left out of the teasing.

… the screams and denials of Misty that followed, left everyone's ears ringing until after the four of them had left the gym.

* * *

**_Authors note:_**

**_Now before the reviews start getting spammed with complaints about Dratini not outright winning that match, it just didn't seem to sit right with me for it to end that way, Gyarados would have had tons of battles in the past and would be used to fighting long and hard, and Dratini is just over a month old at this point, so while he has been training his little blue butt off an outright win wouldn't seem right, this way it shows how far Dratini has come and how much further he still has to go, I'm trying not to make every battle for Mason to be a complete cake walk and bring in some development for him and his team._**

**_And to all those people reviewing how I should have just had Mason travel on his own and do his own thing, if that's how you want a Pokémon fanfic to be then go and write your own, my FanFiction will likely be like that about thirty or forty percent of the time, and Mason will be breaking off later to really go and do his own thing but don't bitch and whine when there are some chapters where he's sticking with the gang, canon will be changing to incorporate the world building I'm doing so not everything will be the same._**

**_Now that that's all said, chapter 10 will be up Monday next week, but I'll be taking a 2 week sabbatical after that for a few reasons:_**

**_One, I'm finding it a little harder to find time to write lately so I want to take two weeks to take things at my own pace and get some chapters stockpiled for the future as I'm currently only just finishing a chapter only a couple of days before it's due to be posted and I want to build up some breathing room. Not just for this fiction but for the other three that I'm going to be focusing on as well._**

**_Two, with the YouTube channel that me and my mates are planning on starting there is a lot of prep work needed to go into things, and as I'm the editor for all the videos we're going to be posting I need to take time to plan everything out and organise the others so that everything will run smoothly._**

**_I'm sorry if some of you don't like it but it's something I have to do. If you want to keep up to date on my FanFictions and how the stockpiling will be going as well as a heads up on when I'll be posting again, follow me on twitter for daily updates, the link is on my Authors profile page_**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey everyone, sorry this chapter took so long, this week has just been one thing after another, but I finally managed to get this chapter finished, and it's the longest chapter of the fiction yet. **

**I hope you'll all enjoy reading it and let me know what you think in a review, they're my lifeblood and reading them keeps me fired and inspired to keep writing**

**Just a quick note, in my last chapter I mentioned that after this I would be taking two weeks off to try and bolster my chapter stockpiles, I will be amending that now to three weeks, to give myself more time with how hectic life has been lately I'll need it. **

**So make sure to follow me on Twitter to keep an eye on how my stockpiling is going and to be notified of when I'll be starting to post again, the link is in my author's page.**

* * *

**Chapter 10**

**Like-minded individuals**

It was a few days later that Mason found himself walking down a dirt road with Ash, Misty and Brock. They had all left Cerulean city the day after Ash and Mason had gotten their gym badges, having chosen to stay the night in the Pokémon centre to get their Pokémon healed, and because it was already so late in the evening chose to stay the night and start the next leg of their journey in the morning.

That had been two days ago and Mason found himself growing more irritable and bored the longer they walked. Travelling like this was starting to really grate on his nerves. As much as he wanted to crack out his iPod and listen to his music he couldn't because that would get some odd looks from the rest of them and he didn't want to deal with the headache of answering their questions nor did he want to reveal that he was from another dimension.

Most nights he thought to himself about how he had even ended up in this world, and if he was the only one to do so, he thought long and hard on those facts. While initially he had been caught up in the fact that he was in the world that he had grown up loving from his childhood and just wanted to become a trainer. The more time passed the more those questions seemed to pop up to him. Had someone brought him here? Was it just a freak accident? Could he ever get home?

That last one kept him up at night, could he? Did he even want to? The fact was that his life hadn't been going that well before, shit happened and he didn't honestly want to deal with it all so maybe it was better if he didn't go back and just stayed here. It was why he had jumped at the chance to be a trainer it just felt right.

Mason tried to keep himself occupied in his thoughts as they walked down the road, before coming to a halt and being pulled from his thoughts by Ash of the… he'd actually forgotten how many times this was now.

"Um remind me again where we're going guys," Ash asked as he scratched the back of his head sheepishly as Pikachu gave a sigh from his shoulder.

Mason groaned, "for the umpteenth time Ash, we're going to Vermillion City", this had been the tenth time that Ash had asked that question and Mason was beginning to wonder if his mum had dropped him on his head as a kid.

Misty gave a dreamy sigh as he spoke, "I can't wait until we get there, Vermilion is a port town, famous for all the luxury cruise ships that pass through it, I'm just dying to see it all"

Ash groaned, "Misty we don't have time for sightseeing, not when there are badges to win," he said impatiently.

Brock cleared his throat to break up the argument before it got a chance to start, "there's also a gym in Vermillion city as well, and from what I've heard he's quite strong"

Mason nodded, "yeah, I've heard he's supposed to be this crazy military dude who packs a punch with electric Pokémon, that's just the challenge I'm looking forward to. I'm going to have to think up some different strategies to combat him as none of my Pokémon has a type advantage over electric types" he commented, having already thought a lot about Surge and his gym and just hot to combat his Raichu.

Ash was grinning like mad at the mention of the gym, "well what are we waiting for let's get going, I've got my third badge to win" he said and was about to run off when Mason caught him by his collar pulling him up short.

"Hold on Ash, we're still days away from Vermillion, and on top of that you haven't done any training since you left Pewter city, we can take these few days to train, you'll need them if you want to win your third badge" Mason commented wanting to get Ash back on track.

"We can train on the road, come in the faster we get there the sooner we can both get our badges" Ash argued back as he pulled himself free from Mason's grip and started running off.

Mason sighed as he Misty and Brock started walking after him, Mason shaking his head as they walked.

"Apparently I didn't kick his ass hard enough in our last battle, he's still not taking his training seriously," he commented to them both.

Brock gave Mason a side glance at the comment, "what do you mean? You and Ash battled?"

Misty giggles, "if you could even call that a battle, Mason mopped the floor with Ash's whole team back in Pewter City. Ash had been running his mouth about being a better trainer than Mason and Mason disagreed with Ash's lack of any seriousness as a Pokémon trainer, it ended with them battling and Mason taking down each of Ash's Pokémon in one on one battles with his own while still being careful not to seriously injured any of Ash's team" she recounted.

Mason nodded, "I was trying to get him to pull his head out of his ass and actually train his Pokémon as I do with mine on a daily basis. I thought I had got through to him, but apparently, I didn't do a good enough job"

Brock nodded in understanding, "I see… you're a good friend Mason, not many people would try to get through to a friend like that. But I have the feeling that it's going to take a lot more to make the message stick.

Mason nodded, "yeah, I just hope that I can get through to him sooner rather than later"

* * *

**Time skip **

It was two hours later that the group found themselves off the side of the dirt path. Both Misty and Brock split between watching the battle that Ash was having with a young trainer they had happened across on the road, and Mason who was taking the time while Ash was battling to get in some training sessions with his Pokémon while they waited.

As it currently stands, Spearow and Golbat we're challenging each other in midair combat, the two female flyers keeping the other on their toes up in the air.

While Scyther and Poliwhirl sparred in hand to hand combat. Mason was impressed by how hard Poliwhirl was going at Scyther pushing the Mantis Pokémon to really have to move to block his blows.

Mason suspected that Poliwhirl was taking his defeat at the hands of Gyarados as a personal front to his strength and wanted to become stronger to prevent it from happening again. Mason was taking full advantage of that and was pushing the tadpole Pokémon harder than he used to, to see about bringing out more of his strength.

As for Dratini Mason had the small blue dragon off to the side of the rest working on a new move for his arsenal one that Mason really wanted his partner to get down to give them an edge in battle, Dragonbreath, a second-generation move from Johto.

Now normally Dratini shouldn't have been able to learn the move, but Mason had a theory that it should be possible, after all, Dratini could already use Dragon Rage, it was basically the same thing, only instead of releasing the draconic energy in one huge fireball it would be released in a violet flamethrower. Dratini could already access the draconic energies now all he had to do was change how they came out.

"Again," Mason ordered as he stood off to the side watching his partner.

Dratini gave a nod as he began to gather small amounts of draconic energy, as per Mason's orders so that he could get the form down correctly before adding the power.

With the small amount of energy gathered Dratini began to mould it and with a cry went to release it, and just like it had the past five times the attack fizzled out the flames only flaring for a moment before dying out completely.

Mason sighed in frustration, they'd been at this only a couple of hours but each failure was really grating on his nerves, "it shouldn't be this hard to get it down, especially a weakened form of it, there's got to be something that we're missing" he sighed.

Brock nodded hearing him, "the theory is sound, I wish I could help, but I know very little about dragon Pokémon they aren't exactly common"

"But your other Pokémon seem to be doing well, they're really putting their all into their training" Misty commented smiling.

Mason nodded, "yeah," he said before shaking his head, "Alright you guys that's enough training, for now, we'll pick things up again later. It looks like Ash is just about done," he said as he held up his Pokéballs and recalled his Pokémon to rest.

Dratini came over to Mason and nudged his leg with his snout giving a little cry.

Mason arched an eyebrow. "You wanna stay out of your Pokéball hmm?" He asked taking a guess at what his partner wanted, the more he hung around his Pokémon the better he was getting at that.

Dratini gave a nod and Mason shrugged, "Alright then," he said before bending down to lift the small dragon up and placed him across his shoulders and the back of his neck with his head resting on Masons left shoulder.

"And I win!" Ash cried out as he fist-pumped the air, "and that's number ten!"

Mason, Misty and Brock began walking over, as Ash and the young trainer they met on the road started to shake hands.

"Wow Ash you're really strong, that was a great battle" the young trainer congratulated Ash.

"Well, I guess I was pretty good there," Ash smirked before he opened his jacket to flash the two badges he had, being about as subtle as a herd of Tauros in a china shop.

"Oh wow you have badges," the other trainer said excitedly.

"Oh you mean these~" Ash grinned.

Misty's eyes narrowed, "I think giving him those badges was a mistake"

"Hmm" Brock agreed with a sigh.

Mason nodded, "yeah now his ego has swollen to the size of a Snorlax, and he only properly won one of those badges"

"What'd you say!" Ash said turning on them having heard Mason's statement, "take that back, I won both my badges fair and square"

Mason snorted, "maybe the Cascade badge, but that was only because Misty didn't use her strongest Pokémon against you, or are you saying you think you could win against her Gyarados" he smirked as Ash gulped at the memory of the large sea serpent, "and let's not forget how you only have the Boulder badge because Brock gave you it after you "almost" won at his gym, and that was because of a faulty sprinkler system"

"And what about you," Ash said through gritted teeth, "last I checked we have the same badges and you didn't exactly win your second one outright, Misty only gave it to you because she was sorry for you"

Mason glared at Ash for that and was about to speak before Misty stepped forward with fire in her eyes, "I did not, I gave it to him because I recognised how skilled he was as a trainer, because he fought against Gyarados, my strongest Pokémon, and came out with a draw, and unlike some other trainers doesn't let the fact that he only has a couple of badges go right to his head!" Misty snapped making Ash flinch back.

"Now now that's enough you two," Brock said as he stepped in between them to keep a fight from breaking out, "we've been over this, that gym leaders have the last say in whoever gets their badges so there's no point in fighting over it" he said with a gentle tone trying to placate both sides.

Misty harrumphed and turned away, "I just don't like him judging my actions when he doesn't know what was going on in my head," she said with annoyance in her tone, but luckily she dropped the matter after that.

The young trainer who had been watching on had wide eyes, "oh cool, two trainers both with two badges, you both must be wicked strong, I bet the both of you could even beat AJ!"

"AJ?" Ash asked confused.

"Yeah, he lives just over there," the trainer explained as he pointed in a direction ahead of them, "he trains freshly caught wild Pokémon, and he's never lost a single match"

"Until now, he's never battled against a trainer like me!" Ash said pompously.

"What like you? A trainer with a massive head but a tiny brain" Mason snorted making Ash fall flat on his face.

* * *

**Scene break**

It was a little bit after they had left Ash's last battle behind and continued on in search of this AJ character, Mason sighed in slight annoyance as he remembered rewatching this episode in his weeks in Professor Oak's watcher's hut. He just knew that Ash was going to really get on his nerves.

It didn't take them long until they came across the rather impressive little set up that AJ had. Tall wooden walls fencing off the area with what looked to be a circus tent inside. And the sign read as he remembered.

_**A.J.'s GYM**_

_**UNDEFEATED!**_

_**W/ 98 - L/ 00**_

_**NOTE: GYM NOT SANCTIONED BY THE POKEMON LEAGUE**_

Mason couldn't help but whistle softly, "Not bad, ninety-eight wins in a row, that's an impressive win streak. This guy obviously knows what he's doing" he commented knowing just how hard it was to build up a serious win streak like that, true most could do it in any of the games but after the number of times he'd been battling for real he'd realised just how much skill it took to pull it off.

Brock nodded, "indeed, I know some gym leaders who can't even maintain a streak like that at their own gyms" he agreed.

Ash snorted, "big deal, look at that, it's not even licenced by the Pokémon league, this is going to be easy"

Mason sighed, "don't be stupid Ash, just because the gym isn't sanctioned by the league doesn't mean this AJ isn't any good, it's a lot harder to get a gym sanctioned than you think" he commented having read up about the facts beforehand the day prior when he'd visited the Cerulean library to sate his curiosity.

Brock nodded again, "Mason's right Ash. In order to have a gym sanctioned by the league the prospective gym leader first has to prove themselves capable in battle, after that there are a number of written tests that need to be done by them, and this is all before the probationary period that usually lasts about six months where the gym leader has to meet a certain number of battles against challenging trainers in that time frame. A gym this far outside any major city would have a tough time meeting the numbers expected, though it looks like he still does well enough for himself." he explained.

"Alright," Ash sighed, "but I still say I'm going to beat him," he said not sounding the least bit intimidated.

Misty giggled, "I wouldn't be too sure about that, you may have won ten battles in a row but this guy has won almost ten times that"

"Big deal!" Ash snapped, "I go for quality, not quantity," he said as he glared at Misty only for Mason to smack him over the back of his head.

"Bullshit!" Mason snapped back at him, "the last ten trainers you battled have all been greenhorns. None of them were serious battlers. They were all weak, that's the only reason you're on a winning streak,"

Ash rounded on Mason, "Oh yeah, well I don't see you with any kind of win streak, so you're hardly one to talk!"

Mason scowled, "for your information Ash. Back before you caught up with me at Pewter, I had a nine trainer win streak running, and that only continued on when I got to Cerulean where I took on the Nugget Bridge challenge where I beat a further seventeen trainers giving me a twenty-six win streak which was only broken when I drew in my match against Misty, so I've had my own share of wins, far more than what you're currently at" he snapped back making Ash flinch back.

Misty giggled, "Aw go ahead and count your draw with me as a win, technically speaking you shouldn't really have faced Gyrados in our match seeing as he's so powerful, so it shouldn't really count as a loss since you did so well"

Mason just shrugged, "I'll think about it, and see if my win streaks continue" he decided before the sound of rustling bushes caught their attention.

Looking over they saw a young man coming out of the tree line. He had spiky green hair, wearing a black and red shirt and blue shorts, with a large backpack on his back. When he spotted them he grinned.

"Well, what do we have here, more victims" the young man grinned.

"I take it you are AJ?" Mason asked for clarity's sake.

AJ nodded, "that's my name, don't wear it out. So I take it you and the loudmouth here are here to challenge me to a battle."

Before Mason could respond Ash spoke up, "you bet we are and I'm going to be the one to end your winning streak"

AJ grinned, "perfect, but don't think this is going to be so easy, training Pokémon is my passion but beating little punks like you is my hobby, and one that I've gotten really good at" he said before snapping his fingers as the large wooden gates opened up and he began to lead them into his set up.

Mason was impressed with what he saw, the tent was much larger than he had first thought and in the clearing between it and the gate was a raised battle platform that looked to have taken some work to set up, with the four sets of steps set into the ground that lead up to the flattened earth.

"Nice setup," Mason commented as he looked around.

"Not too shabby at all" Misty agreed as she nodded.

"Indeed, a respectable set up that looks to be keeping in code with all the standards of an official league gym, I'm very impressed," Brock said as he looked over everything.

As they were looking around AJ took off his backpack and put it down, only for a very healthy and strong looking Butterfree to come flying over and pick up the heavy looking bag and start to fly back to the large tent with it.

"What's in the bag?" Ash asked curiously.

"Training weight for my hike along with all the wild Pokémon I just caught" AJ replied as he began to walk towards the raised platform.

Mason arched an eyebrow at the weights comment, apparently, he wasn't the only trainer who trained themselves as well as their Pokémon to be strong.

"Cool, can I see the Pokémon after our match?" Ash asked excited at the prospect of seeing more Pokémon.

"If you want," AJ replied in a casual tone not really caring much before he turned on the stage and looked down at them, "So which Pokémon are you going to choose for my ninety-ninth win~" he grinned.

"Ninety-Ninth?" Ash asked confused as Mason facepalmed, it took Ash just a couple of seconds too long to work out just was AJ was getting at before he realised what his words meant.

'_Seriously how thick can he be?'_ Mason thought to himself as he watched Ash run up and onto the platform before he, Misty and Brock walked over to Ash's side of the arena to spectate in the match, "I'll take you on after you mop the floor with him" Mason called to AJ.

"What do you mean, I'm not going to lose!" Ash snapped back at him.

Mason sighed, "you just keep believing that Ash," he said pitying the naive fool for what was about to befall him.

AJ smirked, "you should listen to your friend kid, you may think your hot stuff but you're not playing in the Pokémon little leagues any more," he said before he cracked a bullwhip on the ground making Ash jump.

Mason blinked '_where did he even get that whip from?'_ He thought completely confused for a moment.

"After I win one hundred matches in a row, I'll start competing for badges" AJ declared with a grin as he gripped his whip tight in his hands.

"That means he's only two wins away," Brock said in realisation.

"And it means he's going to be extra psyched to win" Misty added.

Mason nodded, "which means Ash stands even less of a chance than I originally thought" he voiced with a smirk.

Ash seemed to grow at Mason's words before looking to AJ again, "ninety-eight wins and you still don't have a badge, that's tough luck AJ" he said before opening his jacket flashing his two badges, "I only have ten wins and I have two badges" he claimed and Mason could practically see Ash's nose growing longer.

AJ smirked, "did you buy those badges or steal em, either that or you competed in some loser gyms, where were they, failure city or whimpsvile"

Mason gulped as he felt heat flare up beside him at AJs words and looked to see both Brock and Misty with fires in their eyes, they were pissed.

"Hey Mason, when it's your turn to battle, clobber this guy" Brock requested.

"Pound him into the ground, no one disrespects my gym like that," Misty said passionately.

Mason chuckled and nodded while Ash just falls flat on his face before turning back to them.

"Hey what about me shouldn't you be telling me that!" Ash states getting more annoyed.

"Just hurry up and lose already so Mason can beat this guy, we already know you're not going to win," Misty says brushing Ash off.

Ash grits his teeth, "grrr I'll show you" he said before turning back to AJ, "let's get this started"

AJ smirked, "fine by me," he said as he pulled a Pokéball from his belt, "Sandshrew let's go" he called throwing his Pokéball out as the mouse Pokémon appeared from his Pokéball and onto the field.

Mason watched closely from the side his eyes looking over the small Pokémon, he could tell by looking that Sandshrew was well trained, he was slightly larger than what his Pokédex entry said about his species, instead of being two feet tall he looked a good half a foot taller and had a fair bit more bulk to him. AJs training methods were clearly working.

"A Sandshrew hm, this should be interesting," Ash grinned, clearly not noticing his opponents strength.

"Remember Ash, Sandshrew is a ground type, Pikachu's electrical attacks won't work on it" Misty reminded him.

"I know that so shut up, I don't need your help" Ash snapped.

"Says the guy who went up against a rock type gym with Pikachu as his only strategy" Mason countered smirking.

Ash growled as he turned back to the battle, "Pidgeotto I choose you" he yelled as he tossed his Pokéball out into the air as the large bird took to the sky.

"Well, at least he's using strategy this time" Misty sighed.

"Pidgeotto should have the advantage, being a flying type" Brock agreed.

"It won't matter," Mason stated plainly, "the difference in strength and training is too great"

And sure enough, as AJ cracked his whip again Sandshrew took off running at Pidgeotto as the bird took off higher into the air.

"Too bad your Sandshrew can't…." Ash began to say cocky before Sandshrew rolled up into a ball and bounced himself off the ground and launched himself up at Pidgeotto slamming against him with all his weight, "what!"

Pidgeotto crashed to the ground clearly hurt from the impact as Sandshrew landed back in position in front of AJ awaiting his next command.

"Wow," Misty said in awe, "wasn't expecting that"

Brock nodded, "Sandshrew is clearly well trained to be able to move on command like that"

"This battle was over before it even started" Mason states as he watches on.

"Finish it!" AJ orders as he cracked his whip again and Sandshrew moved to attack again.

Ash moved in a hurry to call back Pidgeotto before the attack could hit, before he called out his next choice, "Butterfree I choose you!" He called out as he tossed his next Pokéball, "use stun spore!"

Butterfree moves on command and began to let off the yellow dust over the battlefield as he moved towards Sandshrew.

"That won't work!" AJ said as he cracked his whip again and Sandshrew jumped up before diving towards the ground and began to dig disappearing into the earth to avoid the spores.

"And checkmate" Mason states as the stun spore ended and AJ cracked his whip again.

Sandshrew shot out of the ground and high into the air with speed as he launched up behind Butterfree catching him by surprise and in seconds had the butterfly pinned to the ground with his wings trapped.

"And that makes victory number ninety-nine" AJ declared with a grin as he struck his whip again and Sandshrew moved off the now exhausted Butterfree.

Ash quickly returned Butterfree before turning to grab Pikachu, "come on you have to go help your friend" he said only for Pikachu to grab the edge of the arena leaving Ash to try to pull Pikachu in by his tail.

Mason, Misty and Brock all wisely took several steps back just in time for Pikachu to let out a powerful electric attack shocking Ash badly as he fell to the ground twitching.

Mason sighed, "what an idiot," he said before looking to Dratini who was still perched over his shoulders, "ready to win buddy?"

Dratini gave a confirmed cry making Mason smirk as he walked forward and up the steps before turning and using the bottom of his boot pushed Ash me twitching form off the platform, "let me show you how it's done" he told him before looking to AJ and Sandshrew, "ready for a real battle?"

AJ smirked, "you bet, once we beat you we'll have our hundredth win and can finally start competing for real"

Mason smirked, "sorry to say but your winning streak is about to be broken, Dratini ready for battle," he said as Dratini gave a cry and threw himself off Mason's shoulders and out onto the field.

Misty blinked, "Mason why aren't you using Poliwhirl, he'd have an advantage in this fight"

Mason nodded, "I could, but Dratini wants to fight, besides, it's only fair I face his partner with my own"

AJ grinned, "good eye, Sandshrew was my first Pokemon, he's been with me from the start, I'm assuming it's the same with you and Dratini?"

Mason nodded, "yep, I hatched him myself, he's been with me from the start of it all, so it only seems fitting"

AJ nodded, "that it does, and it will make our hundredth win all the sweeter, Sandshrew go Fury swipes!" he ordered as he cracked his whip.

Sandshrew threw himself forward with his claws raised ready to attack as he got closer to Dratini.

Mason smirked, "Dratini use Twister knock it back!" He ordered.

Dratini gave a cry as his draconic aura enveloped his body and the winds began to pick up and lashed out the rapidly approaching Sandshrew.

Sandshrew slowed still trying to advance as he was pummeled by the draconic winds, his clawed feet digging into the ground to keep it from being pushed back by the winds and kept pushing forward much to Mason's shock.

"Ha it's going to take a lot more than some winds to stop us, Sandshrew go!" AJ ordered grinning confidently.

Mason mentally cursed as Sandshrew got within striking range, "Dratini use Agility to dodge!" He ordered quickly.

Just as Sandshrew claw came down Dratini cut of his attack and blurred away from the mouse Pokémon putting some distance between them as Mason began to strategise, this battle wasn't going to be as easy as he thought.

"Push the attack Sandshrew, Slash let's go" AJ ordered as he cracked his whip.

Sandshrew instantly took off again his claws lengthening and began to glow with power as he moved in for the attack.

"Dodge again with Agility and attack back with Dragon Rage!" Mason ordered

Once again Dratini blurred out of the range of Sandshrews claws just barely in time and the second he stopped moving he reared his head back and channelled his draconic energy into his maw and let out a speedy Dragon Rage with all the power of a fully charged one, all the training the last few days had really paid off.

"Dig to dodge!" AJ ordered with a crack of his whip making Sandshrew instantly dive underground as the Dragon Rage missed.

"Dratini, use Dragon Rage down the hole!" Mason ordered thinking strategically.

Dratini nodded moving to the hole as he prepares to fire again.

"As if we'd let that happen, Sandshrew, Earthquake!" AJ ordered loudly as he cracked his whip again.

Mason's eyes widened as did the others when suddenly the entire area began to shake causing Dratini to misfire the Dragon Rage and hit the ground knocking the small dragon back.

"Dratini!" Mason said in worry his eyes wide.

But it wasn't over yet as AJ cracked his whip again as Sandshrew burst from the ground from below where Dratini landed claws out as he delivered a powerful blow to the small dragon making it cry out.

Mason clenched his fists tightly as he heard the pained cry of his partner, "Dratini, use Wrap, don't let him dig again!" He ordered, his eyes focused, doing his best to keep his mind clear and calm.

Dratini obeyed and threw himself at Sandshrew his body wrapping around the mouse Pokémon and squeezing.

"That won't hold us, Sandshrew break out of it and use Slash!" AJ ordered as he cracked his whip again.

Sandshrew instantly obeyed as he began to flex his arms to break the wrap he was in.

Mason instantly cursed in his head, "Dratini, Dragon Rage point blank!" He ordered thinking quickly, he needed to gain some ground or this would be over before they even had a chance.

Dratini obeyed and thanks to all of the training he was able to gather the draconic energies just in time and was about to fire just as Sandshrew broke free, it was in that moment that something happened and instead of a ball of draconic flames that came out it was a powerful stream of them that burst forth and caught Sandshrew full in the face blasting the two Pokémon apart.

Both trainers eyes were wide at the sudden attack, Mason was instantly trying to work out what happened, '_that wasn't Dragon Rage, that was Dragonbreath, but how, why did it happen this time, could it be purposefully weakening the draconic energy before was what was causing it not to work'_ he thought to himself.

"We're not done yet, it will take more than whatever that was to beat us," AJ said as he cracked his whip and Sandshrew got back to his feet, albeit a little worse for wear after taking the powerful blast of draconic fire to the face, "Go Sandshrew use Slash again!" AJ orders his whip cracked the ground.

Sandshrew took off with speed rolling into a ball and shot towards Dratini who was still recovering from the explosive attack.

Mason cursed, "Dratini, use Dragonbreath, full power!" He ordered hoping Dratini could pull off the attack a second time.

Dratini looked up just as Sandshrew threw itself into the air and unfurled coming at Dratini with his claws out ready to attack. He reacted instantly to Mason's orders and gathering up as much draconic energy as he could in his maw and released it with a cry as a stream of violet flames erupted from Dratinis mouth.

Sandshrew's eyes widened as he saw the flames come roaring at him but the crack of AJs whip caught his attention, "use dig to dodge!"

Sandshrew immediately changes his aim and shot down to the ground disappearing under the ground to evade the flames, but Mason was prepared.

"Keep the flames going and aim for the hole!" Mason ordered much to AJs horror.

"No!" AJ yelled in shock, but it was too late.

The violet flames washed down the hole like water down a sink drain, flooding the tunnel Sandshrew had dug in an effort to escape the flames and they just kept coming.

The next second the ground shook and three meters away from the hole the ground cracked and in a geyser of violet flames, Sandshrew erupted from the ground with a cry forced from the ground by the strength of the flames and launched into the air.

"Sandshrew!" AJ yelled in worry.

"Finish it, Dragon Rage!" Mason ordered knowing he had to end this now before Sandshrew could reach the ground and AJ could use Sandshrews more powerful moves, he knew that he knew Fissure and he didn't want to give them the chance when Sandshrew was in a prime position to use it now.

Dratini didn't waste a beat, gathering the draconic energies once more he took aim and let the fireball fly true, Sandshrew had no way to dodge and the impact shook the air as it landed and from the smoke Sandshrew plummeted to the ground like a rock crashing down flat on its front his eyes closed showing he was down for the count.

AJ looked like someone had just gut-punched him for a few seconds before he sprinted out into the battlefield, "Sandshrew!"

Mason for his part felt his shoulders slump as he let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding, that match had been one of the toughest yet, '_I really need to step up our training, possibly start coming up with some combination moves, the second I reach Vermillion city I'm going out battling and then hitting the stores for technical machines I need to teach Dratini some more moves'_ he thought to himself before walking out into the field and kneeling down at Dratinis side and rubbing the small dragons head, "well-done partner, that was a great match, I knew you had it in you" he praised the small dragon who gave a pleased cry in response.

Both Misty and Brock came up onto the platform Misty carrying Mason's bag to him while Brock went to AJ already getting medical supplies out of his bag to see to Sandshrew.

Mason quickly saw to treating Dratini's wounds with some potions making sure his partner was okay and that there weren't any adverse effects from the attacks he had taken.

Once he was sure that Dratini was fine he let the small dragon rest on his shoulders again before he approached Brock and AJ, who was now cradling a fully healed Sandshrew with tears in his eyes.

"I'm sorry buddy, I let us down, all our hard work, gone because I screwed up" AJ apologises as he hugged Sandshrew who was hugging his trainer back mourning the death of their ninety-ninth win streak.

Mason couldn't help but feel a little bad for him, the guy had been training his butt off to get those wins and it showed with just how massively overpowered his Sandshrew was, Mason was amazed that he hasn't evolved into a Sanslash with how much training it had probably undergone. He knew that Dratini was nowhere near evolving given how notoriously hard it was to level his species up in the games he bet it was the same here as well.

"Hey AJ," Mason said as he held his hand out to him, "that was a great match, you're one hell of a trainer, and your Sandshrew is incredibly powerful, you should be proud of yourself"

AJ looked at him and sighed taking his hand, "thanks, but it still doesn't change the fact that I lost, all our hard work down the drain just like that" he sighed.

Mason shook his head, "it shouldn't matter, ninety-nine is an incredible win streak all on its own, you're already plenty ready for the gym challenges, in fact I was hoping that you'd be able to give me some tips on how to train my Pokémon, since you've obviously been at this and know what you're doing far better than I do"

AJ looked taken aback, "R-Really, you'd actually want to learn from me after you just beat me," he asked confused.

Mason nodded, "of course, I'm always willing to learn, and it's not as if it was a complete blowout, you made me work for that win so you're obviously doing something right. If you want my advice you should just forget about your loss to me, and put your win streak off until your next battle to decide, if you lose that then it should count, everyone has an off day"

Ash jumped in at this, "does that mean I should hold onto my win streak too?" He asked hopefully

Mason snorted, "Oh hell no, you got flattened and then used to mop the battlefield, your win streak is dead and buried," he said prompting Ash to hang his head as a storm cloud rained over him.

AJ seemed to ponder Mason's suggestion and looked to his partner, "what do ya say, buddy, wanna call this match an off day and we try again for our hundredth tomorrow?"

Sandshrew nodded his head vigorously, clearly agreeing with the suggestion, making AJ smirk.

"Well I guess that settles it then, our win streak is still alive, this just means we'll have to train extra hard until the next battle comes" AJ proclaimed as Sandshrew gave a cry of agreement.

"In fact, let's go get started," AJ states before looking to Mason, "you said you wanted some tips on how to train, come on in and see for yourself how we do things at this gym" he smirked before starting to walk towards the tent.

Mason nodded and looked to the others, "you guys wanna come?"

Misty smiled, "sure thing, should be interesting" she chirped happily.

Brock smirked, "of course, I'm really interested in how to find out about how AJ sees to his Pokemon's dietary needs"

Ash frowned, "why so he can rub my nose in the fact that he beat me"

Mason rolled his eyes as he turned and started towards the tent also as Misty and Brock followed him, "How about so you can see how important actually training your Pokémon is in order to become stronger" he called back as they entered the tent.

Getting inside Mason was pleasantly surprised to see the impressive set up that AJ had set up, a huge pool next to a weight area. He could see the benefits of having both, swimming was great for building up stamina and endurance while the weights would help to build a Pokemon's physical strength, two key aspects to work on, and Mason knew that the pool could also be used in other ways.

As if to prove his point, the sound of AJs whip cracked through the air making the trio focus on him, at the same time that Ash finally decided to come in.

Up above the pool on the ten-meter tall diving board, Sandshrew stood in his strength gear before throwing himself off the platform and performing a mid-air somersault before splashing down into the water.

Mason gave an impresses whistle as he walked over to the pool and AJ, "water resistance training, impressive, I've only read about it and never actually seen it in practice"

AJ smirked, "Thanks, you're looking at the only Sandshrew in these parts that is completely immune to water" he claimed as Sandshrew burst from the water and began to spin rapidly to dry off, "no resting back in the water!" AJ ordered as he cracked his whip again.

"This doesn't look like training at all, to me it just looks like you're being cruel to Sandshrew" Ash claimed, scowling at the sight of Sandshrew diving back into the pool again.

AJ snorted, "And what would you know about my Pokémon or our training, judging by how easily I beat you before. You barely, if ever, train them properly at all, that's no way to be a Pokémon trainer"

Mason snorted, "save your breath AJ, I've been trying to drill that into Ash's head since nearly the moment I met him, he won't listen, though I do have to say that the whip is a bit much on your part though, a little overkill" he smirked.

AJ chuckled, "what can I say I'm passionate" he agreed as he gestured to his other Pokémon.

A trio of Ratata was training by using Tackle attacks on a medicine ball as they passed it back and forth, while up in the air a Butterfree and Beedrill were sparing obviously going through well-practised movements at a fast pace.

Mason nodded just as he heard a splash and Sandshrew came up from the water again spinning once more to dry himself off.

"Impressive, very impressive indeed" Mason nodded as Dratini gave a cry from his shoulder making Mason smirk, "Hey AJ, do you mind if I let my Pokémon out to train with yours, I've only been able to get a little training in today while Ash was getting his win streak"

AJ smirked, "sure thing, the more the merrier"

Mason nodded as he took his Pokéballs off his belt and tossed them up into the air, "come on out guys!"

In four flashes, Poliwhirl, Scyther, Spearow And Golbat all appeared looking around them before focusing on Mason as he put Dratini down to join them.

Now it was AJs turn to whistle, "Wow, that's a strong-looking team you have, already with two of them evolved I can already see them becoming a real powerhouse team when they're all evolved"

"Thanks," Mason nodded, "mind if we have Spearow and Golbat in a trio with your Butterfree for some air combat, Scyther can probably spar against your Beedrill and Poliwhirl and Dratini could do with some pool time"

AJ nodded, "sounds like a plan to me," he said before giving a whistle to get his Pokemon's attention and started to partner them all up.

* * *

**Time skip **

It was over the next half an hour that both Mason and AJ watched their Pokémon train together, Brock and Misty had even had their own Pokémon join in, though they had refrained from releasing Gyarados and Onix respectively, given how large both of them where.

Misty's water Pokémon were in the pool with Poliwhirl and Dratini alternating between swimming drills and water combat. While Brock's Geodude was training with AJ's Rattatas knocking the medicine ball between them from one to another with Tackle, and his Zubat had joined Butterfree, Golbat and Spearow who were sparing above, it had turned into a real event for them all, except for one in particular.

Ash was just standing over to the side of it all with a frown on his face as he watched everything, AJ in particular as he kept cracking his whip and giving out orders.

This had been happening since it all started and Mason was getting sick of his sulking and decided to do something about it. Just as the bell rang to signal the break he walked over and gave Ash a smack across the back of his head.

"Owe! What was that for!" Ash snapped at Mason with a scowl.

"For being a stupid idiot," Mason snapped back, "you've been standing in that one spot for the past half an hour glaring at AJ and for what, because he's being hard on his Pokémon while he's training them, grow up Ash. This is what being a trainer is all about. There's a time and place to have fun with your Pokémon, but if you want that to be all the time you shouldn't have signed up for the gym challenge because unless you're going to train you stand no chance of winning the Indigo league just by making friends with your Pokémon and never training them"

"So what! You want me to work my Pokémon every day and run them into the ground until their exhausted," he said gesturing to all the Pokémon who were on the ground exhausted from their training, "their my friends, not tools just for battles" Ash snapped back.

"If that's how you see it you should just quit now, your not cut out to be a Pokémon trainer" AJ commented hearing Ash's little declaration, "just because I push my Pokémon hard doesn't mean I don't care about them, it's because we both have a dream to be the best, and in order to achieve that for us both I have to push my Pokémon or we'll never achieve our dreams"

Ash didn't look as though he had heard anything after AJs comment about him not being cut out to be a Pokémon trainer, as he glared at AJ with his fists balled down by his sides as if he was ready to take a swing.

Luckily any fight was prevented when Brock came over with his hands up in a placating gesture to defuse the situation, "Alright that's enough, no need to start a fight" he said gently before looking to AJ, "AJ I've been meaning to ask you about the food you feed your Pokémon, I'm an aspiring Pokémon breeder and I was curious…" he began to say.

AJ smirked, "say no more Brock," he said and gestured for him to follow.

Both Mason and Brock followed AJ over to a set of cupboards which AJ opened to reveal a number of Pokémon food containers with various type labels on their fronts to show what's food is in which.

"Impressive, you have a wide range of Pokémon foods here, I'm assuming that their all your own blends?" Brock inquired.

AJ nodded, "of course, in order to get the most out of my Pokémon's training I have to carefully monitor their diets so that they get all the nutrients they need as well as keeping them happy with the flavour of their meals, Sandshrew likes his chow nice and spicy, while my Rattata like their chow sweet, and Butterfree prefers something a bit sweet but hates anything spicy, Beedrill loves anything spicy but like Sandshrew has to have it moist so it's not too dry" he explained, "I keep a small plot out the back for growing berries to mix in with the various chow mixes for flavour and add in the other ingredients to help develop certain attributes, speed, attack and the like…"

Mason nodded along as he listened alongside Brock, mentally taking notes for when Brock would be walking him through making his own Pokémon food again, and what followed was an in-depth lecture from AJ on how he personally prepared each of his Pokemon's food by hand with certain goals in mind for their training. Mason found it quite fascinating as it wasn't really an aspect the games or the anime had gotten much into and he could see how beneficial it would be, how he could tailor his Pokemon's training with the right balance of nutrients and berry mix to get the flavour the Pokémon preferred.

He knew already where the tastes were coming from, his Pokémon natures, another thing the anime never really touched on but figured it would be a part of the Pokémon world, he'd have to do some testing to work out just what each of his teams natures were, judging by what flavours they preferred and disliked, seeing as how the Pokédex didn't give that information.

They finished just in time as they heard the bell ringing again, signalling that break time was over.

"Alright, break times over" AJ announced as he cracked his whip again, "back to work, come on" AJ ordered his Pokémon as they all began to get up from where they had laid down to relax.

Mason's Pokemon all looked to him and he nodded back to them, "time to get back to work" they all nodded back to him.

Ash frowned seeing all of the Pokémon getting back up even though they all looked completely exhausted. He looked to Mason and AJ scowling, "they need longer to rest, they're still tired" he claimed not noticing the scowls that he got from both trainers Pokémon as they returned to their training.

Mason sighed and shook his head, "they've had time to catch their breath, my team is used to longer training sessions than just that"

"And my Pokémon are no pushovers either…" AJ said before looking over to where he last saw Sandshrew only to frown when he saw Pikachu curled up in a ball, "what's your Pikachu think it's doing?"

Ash looked over his eyes wide as he ran over to Pikachu, "Pikachu are you okay" he said as he knelt down to try and help his partner uncurl only to fail.

AJ frowned as he walked over and knelt down, "give him here" he said taking the curled up electric mouse and with a couple of clicks Pikachu sprang back up with a sigh of relief as Ash took his Pokémon back.

AJ looked at the device and frowned, "This is Sandshrews" he said before standing up and looking around not seeing any sign of his buddy. He looked back to Pikachu, "Pikachu do you know where Sandshrew is?"

Pikachu looked to AJ and shook his head sadly in a negative and AJs frown deepened as he turned away, "Sandshrew where are you, buddy!" He called out but got no response, "Sandshrew!"

Ash seemed to smirk triumphantly, "maybe he ran away" he suggested getting AJs attention.

"Say what?" AJ asked with a scowl as he balled his fists at the mere suggestion that his partner would abandon him.

"Given how you treat your Pokémon I'm surprised…"Ash continued to say only to be cut short by a right hook to his jaw that sent him sprawling and right into the pool with a splash, Pikachu jumping free at the last second to not get wet, only the punch didn't come from AJ.

Mason stood a few feet from where Ash had been his fist balled as he glared at the water as Ash came up, "shut your damn mouth Ketchum, you have no bloody clue what you are talking about" Mason spoke with venom in his tone, he was absolutely sick of Ash's bullshit, "you think a Pokémon would abandon their trainer just because they're hard on them in training? Do you think my Pokémon will abandon me just because I push them to be better than they already are so that they can become stronger? Grow the hell up you idiot, if your too stupid to see what's right in front of you then AJs was right, you should quit being a Pokémon trainer because you clearly down get it" he said before gesturing to all of AJs Pokémon who were looking just as worries as their trainer, "AJ is a trainer, just like you, just like me. The only difference between you and him is that he trains his Pokémon, pushing them to their limit every time. Not out of cruelty, but because he cares for them just as any trainer does for their Pokémon. If you can't see that, you're more of a moron than I thought, and clearly not cut out to be a Pokémon trainer."

Ash just floated in the water not sure whether to be shocked or angry over Mason punching him and what he was saying, his ears were ringing and his jaw hurt like hell though.

Mason turned away from Ash to see both Misty and Brock giving him concerned looked but he didn't say anything before looking to AJ, "let's find Sandshrew" he told him before whistling to his Pokémon as they all came to him, "spread out and search around the area, Sandshrew is missing, find him" he ordered.

His Pokémon all nodded and quickly took off to begin searching being joined by AJs Pokémon a couple of seconds later.

Mason clenched his fists, he had completely forgotten about Team Rockets fudged up attempt to steal Pikachu and swiping Sandshrew instead, he had been so distracted by AJs Pokéfood talk and trying to learn all he could that it had completely slipped his mind, he should have been more alert and put a stop to it before it happened and now those three idiots had gotten one over on them and he didn't know what made him feel worse, that it happened, or the fact that those three clowns did it while he was there to stop them with prior knowledge of what they would do, he felt like such an idiot.

Mistaking his silence for concerns for Sandshrews well being Misty came up to Mason and put her hand on his shoulder, he looked to her and she gave him a small smile, "We should go help with the search too" she said as Brock came up as well remaining silent but nodded in agreement.

Mason smiled back and nodded, "Alright come on" he said and started to the door of the three of them plus AJ left to split up and search, leaving Ash to climb his way out of the pool on his own, a bruise already starting to form on his jaw from where Mason had slugged him, but what Mason had said to him began to rattle around his head as his ears rang from the punch still and he lay down at the side of the pool looking up at the ceiling of the tent a frown on his face as he became lost in thought.

* * *

**Scene break**

It was a good ten minutes into the search for Sandshrew, Mason knew that Sandshrew would come back on his own, but he was hoping to find Team Rocket before then and redeem himself for not stopping this before it happened.

As they are searching, Misty approaches Mason, a look of concern on her face, "did you really have to do that back there with Ash, I know he can be a thick-headed idiot at times but did you have to punch him?" She asked.

Mason looked to her at the question before looking away and sighing, in truth the punch had only been half about Ash's stupidity, the other half had been about himself allowing this to happen, it shouldn't have happened not with him there, that had been the tipping point for him. That and Ash actually having the gall to say what he did and for what he knew Ash would have and still might do when they got back, trying to convince AJs Pokémon to come with him and abandon AJ like he was convinced Sandshrew had.

"I'm not going to apologise for it, Ash was way out of line saying what he was," Mason stated, "there's only so much of his stupidity that I can take in one day and he's being exceptionally stupid today. Training Pokémon is part of, if not all, that being a Pokémon trainer is all about. It's in the bloody name for Mew's sake, Ash needs to grow up and catch himself on or it's his Pokémon that are going to be the ones to suffer for their trainer's stupidity"

Misty sighed, "I know that, and I know you mean well, but look at it from Ash's perspective. To him it's someone trying to tell him what to do and how to be a Pokémon trainer, he wants to become strong himself, everyone has their own style, and he'll learn in his own time and in his own way"

"But that's just the thing Misty, he isn't, he may want to be strong but he's doing nothing to actually become strong. He's not training his Pokémon, he's not strategising, he's running around with his head up his ass and thinks this is all just some game and that everything will go his way if he just plays nice with his Pokémon, and it's that very fact that pissing me off" Mason frowned, "he has the same number of badges as me, and he's only properly earned one of them, he's catching Pokémon but not training them, he's just skating by on luck and bullshit, while others like me are actually training to get where we are. And to top it all off he has the balls to actually gloat about his "accomplishments" in the presence of someone who actually had to work and not bullshit his way through…" he said before throwing his hands in the air, "can you blame me for being pissed off, sooner or later he's going to crash and burn. It'll be his Pokémon to suffer for his stupidity"

Misty listened to Mason's rant concerned. She understood how he felt, but she could tell there was more than just the irritation of seeing Ash get by on luck, and she thought she had figured it out in the last part of his rant. She smiled, "you're doing it so that Ash's Pokémon have a better trainer and so that they won't get hurt because of Ash, and so that Ash won't feel bad when he sees his Pokémon get hurt?" She voiced her suspicions.

Mason remained silent for a moment, frowning. In a way it was partly true, "yes to the first part," he replied, "but I couldn't care less about Ash's feelings on the matter, his Pokémon need a proper trainer who will actually train them, he may as well just be keeping them as glorified pets otherwise" he said before looking around and sighing, "come on let's head back, see if the others have found anything"

* * *

**Time skip**

When they arrived back at the tent, everyone else had already returned, and AJ looked to them as they came in, "Anything?" he asked with a look of hope only for that look to fall when he saw they didn't have Sandshrew with them.

"Nothing and we walked straight for a good ten minutes searching with no signs, we were hoping you guys would have had more luck," Mason said with a sigh.

Inwardly he knew it was only a matter of time until Sandshrew turned up, bursting through the ground with Meowth with him, but he couldn't shake the worry that he had inside him that was beginning to sink in, what if his presence had changed something, what if Sandshrew didn't come back this time.

Lucky for Mason he didn't have to dwell on those thoughts for long as several feet in front of AJ began to crack and bulge the next moment before Sandshrew burst out of the tiled floor and threw himself into AJs arms.

"Sandshrew!" AJ said in surprise and relief as he hugged the Pokémon tightly as his other Pokémon began to crowd around to welcome the missing Pokémon back.

Mason let out a sigh of relief that his presence hadn't changed things this time, and he glanced over to Ash seeing as the other trainer had been quiet this whole time.

Ash seemed to be looking at AJ with a pained look as if realising how big of an idiot he'd been, he glanced to Mason only to see him looking before turning his gaze away in shame.

Mason smirked, '_finally realised it did you, well at least you didn't make yourself out to be as big of an idiot like you did in the anime. Guess my punch was good for something'_ Mason internally mused to himself before looking down at the unconscious form of Meowth and scowled.

"So that's what happened," Mason said aloud getting everyone's attention as they looked to him and the unconscious cat Pokémon.

"Wake up you little shit!" Mason snapped before drawing back his foot and kicking Meowth with the toe of his steel-toed boot and launching the feline into the pool with a splash.

The boot connected Meowth woke up with a yelp before he found himself airborne and landing in the pool spluttering as he tried to keep himself afloat and swim for the edge of the pool.

By the time he reached it he looked up to find himself surrounded by everyone, Pokémon included, all looking down at him angrily.

"So that's what happened to Sandshrew, Team Rocket must have tried to kidnap him," Misty said angrily.

"Team Rocket?" AJ asked for clarification his fists balled in anger at the thought of anyone stealing away his buddy.

"It's just as it sounds, a criminal organisation who steals strong Pokémon and use them to commit other crimes, Meowth here is the mascot of a certain team of them that we've run into in the past" Mason explained.

Meowth bristles at the comment, "I ain't no stinking mascot!" He snapped as he climbed out of the pool before flinching back at all the angry glares he was receiving.

"So where's the rest of your pathetic group, where there's a stink there's usually something rotten nearby," Mason asked with disgust.

As if speaking about them made them appear, the voices of Jessie and James came from the doorway.

"Prepare for trouble", "make that double"

Everyone turned to look to the doorway and sure enough there the two members of Team Rocket stood.

"To protect the world from devastation, "to unite all people within our nation" they began to recite.

Mason scowled, "oh give it a rest you idiots, no one cares," he said cutting them off and making them fall flat on their faces at the sudden interruption.

"How rude!" Jessie screeched indignantly.

"Didn't your parents ever teach you any manners boy" James scowled

Mason snorted, "I'm an orphan so no, now do everyone a favour and just get lost"

"Hold up a minute," AJ said stepping forward, "are these lot the crooks who tried kidnapping my Sandshrew"

Jessie snorted, "that was an unfortunate mix up," she said waving her finger.

"We have no interest in your second rate Sandshrew, we only seek rare and powerful Pokémon, of which your Sandshrew is neither" James scoffed

"Second rate!" AJ snapped his fists clenched at his sides at the insult.

"The only two Pokémon here that we care about are Pikachu and Dratini, you can keep all those other wimps" Jessie smirked.

"Wimps are they!" AJ scowled his jaw clenched.

Mason watched and hid a half-smirk, as much as he would have liked to stop Team Rocket beforehand and dealt with them himself, he was actually looking forward to seeing what was about to happen now, Team Rocket had just messed with the wrong trainer.

"If you want a battle…" Ash said as he stepped forward ready to fight only to be blocked by AJ.

"Hold on Ash, let me handle them" AJ declared, "no one insults my Pokémon and gets away with it," he declared angrily as he glared at the Team Rocket trio, "let's step outside"

* * *

**Time skip **

What followed after that, had left a smirk on Masons face for the remainder of the evening, after watching AJ thoroughly thrash those clowns and then watch as they proceeded to run away after being scared shitless by Sandshrew practically destroyed the clearing with a Fissure attack during the battle.

Mason could only shake his head as he stood on the edge of the chasm looking down into the darkness and whistles in appreciation, "man I'm glad you didn't get a chance to use that against me in our match" he commented as he took a step back from the edge.

Mason couldn't help but look at Sandshrew with a little bit of fear, the fact that something so small could wield so much power was frightening, and Mason was reminded just how powerful some Pokémon could be.

AJ smirked, "yeah maybe our match would have turned out differently, but I guess we'll never know, especially now with this being my hundredth win" he grinned.

Mason nodded, "congrats about that by the way, I suppose you'll be heading out now then"

AJ grinned, "you bet, expect to see me at the indigo plateau, we'll have those eight badges in no time" he boasted.

Mason nodded, "I have no doubt, I'll be looking forward to our battle when the time comes," he said holding his hand out and AJ took it.

"Same, don't think you'll win next time though," AJ smirked before breaking away to head inside to pack.

Mason watched him go before turning back to the chasm and smirked, yes that would be a battle he would definitely be looking forward to when the time came.

* * *

**Time skip**

After parting ways with AJ outside of his gym, the four were on the road once again, they had been walking for the last mile in a silence that had settled over them, mostly due to Ash who had been walking with his head down since they parted with AJ.

They had just passed a crossroads when Ash finally spoke up.

"Mason" Ash spoke, she word sounding strained, "look I want to say I'm sorry for the way I acted back at AJs gym" he explained, "and how I've been acting before that, shirking your advice on training my Pokémon and not taking things as seriously as you do"

As Ash spoke they all stopped to listen to him as he apologised. Both Misty and Brock smiled knowing that this was difficult for Ash to say but pleased to see he was actually seeing reason.

Mason for his part simply nodded and urged Ash to continued, seeing that the other trainer wasn't done.

Ash swallowed, "after seeing how strong AJs Sandshrew was, because of how AJ trained him properly…. I…. I want to ask if you could help me. I know I don't know as much as you do about Pokémon training, but I want to learn, I want to become the best and I understand now that it won't happen if I don't train my Pokémon at every opportunity, I know I don't have any right to ask this if you especially after how I've been acting but…" he began to continue only for Mason to raise his hand to stop him.

"Alright," Mason spoke giving as a hard glare, "I'll help you, Ash, if you want to finally turn yourself into a good Pokémon trainer then I'll gladly help. But that's only if you're serious, I won't help you if you don't take this seriously and give it your all, understand"

Ash gulped and nodded, "I am and I do," he said before bowing, "thank you"

Mason nodded and let out a sigh, "we'll start your training tomorrow on the road so that we're not held up, I'll need that long to think about where to start you off" he said as they began walking again.

"We can help too" Misty offered as they walked, "we weren't gym leaders for nothing you know"

Brock nodded, "yeah, part of being a gym leader is about passing on knowledge to trainers who want to learn, so we'll be able to help out where needed too"

Ash smiled, "Thanks you guys, he said and they could tell that he meant it.

Mason remained silent as they continued to walk his smile fading somewhat as they did. He was happy that it appeared that he had finally gotten through to Ash, this was certainly what he wanted, but he suspected that just like the last time it wouldn't last, only time would tell.


	11. Chapter 11

**And I'm back just as I promised I would be, I didn't get as much as I wanted to get done in three weeks off, things just kept happening, but I got enough done to resume posting for now, so I hope you enjoy the chapter everyone**

* * *

**Chapter 11**

**Going back to school**

It was later the next evening that Mason found himself growing more and more irritated, a growing trend in these past few days. They had been keeping to the canon pace of things as far as Mason could tell, he knew they had to, but in the time that they had Mason had begun Ash's proper education, starting with the very basics but the more they went on the more Mason wanted to strangle Ash.

"For the fifth time Ash, an electrical attack will not work if you use them on Rock or ground type Pokémon, they are immune" Mason said rubbing his brow as they walked through the thick fog, "water or grass moves should be your go-to for dealing with both, or ice against ground, or fighting, ground or steel type moves against rock types"

"But then how do you explain Pikachu's attack beating Brock's Geodude and hurting his Onix?" Ash protested confused.

Mason facepalmed with a groan, "your bullshit luck that's how", '_and anime bullshit for the sake of the story that is just utter rubbish' _he mentally griped as they continued.

As bad as Ash was on the book side of things Mason had to give him credit, Ash was showing promise in the actual training aspect of things. The other day when they had stopped for dinner after leaving AJ's gym and Mason went to train his Pokémon, Ash was right there with him and so were his Pokémon and Mason could see that each of them were eager to train and get stronger, and as a result they ended up having a very productive training session with their two teams pairing off to train.

Pidgeotto and Butterfree with Golbat and Spearow, Poliwhirl with Scyther and Pikachu with Dratini as per usual and they made good progress in toughening up Ash's team, while Mason got to work in toughening up Ash.

Right now however they were trying to find their way through this thick mist that had descended on them in the early hours of the morning. Mason knew what it meant and what was coming but remained silent about such things, not wanting to draw attention to himself for knowing future events.

"This mist is starting to drive me mad," Misty complained, "we've been walking around for hours now and it feels like we're not going anywhere"

Mason sighed, "yeah you're right. We can barely see ten feet in front of us," he agreed, and it was true the mist was really thick, he could only just make out the treeline to their right that they had been keeping close to for the past while, it wasn't really that productive a way to travel.

"I suggest we all take a break," Brock voiced, "perhaps wait a while until this mist settles down," he said as he took his bag off his shoulder and began to pull various things out of it, a table, a table cloth, two chairs, plates and various other things.

Mason just arched an eyebrow at the scene while Misty and Ash sweatdropped, now that Mason knew about the capsule technology it really wasn't that strange, but still, seeing all of that come out of one backpack was rather comical.

"And I have just the thing, for us to drink while we wait," Brock added as he took out a brown bag from his backpack, "I bought this herbal tea back in Cerulean city," he said as he opened it up to let the scent out.

Misty's eyes lit up as she smelled the herbs, "oh I know that blend, my dad used to drink it all the time, it's delicious"

Brock smile, "excellent, now I've got a supply of water here somewhere, we just need wood for the fire, Ash would you mind going out and seeing if you could gather up some firewood, Mason could you help me set up a stand for us to use"

Mason nodded, "sure thing Brock," he said as Ash slumped with a groan until Mason gave him a pat on the back, "hurry back Ash, when you get back we can see about another training session while we wait for the mist to clear." he said to encourage him, though internally knowing that Ash wouldn't be getting firewood any time soon.

Ash seemed to perk up and that and nodded, "okay" he said before he and Pikachu took off into the forest to look for firewood.

Mason shook his head when Ash was out of sight and went to help Brock while Misty sat at the table to wait.

It only took Mason and Brock about five minutes to set up a small fire pit with some rocks and Brocks metal stand for the tea kettle in place, all they would need was the firewood, and so sat down to wait for Ash to come back.

It was after another five minutes that Mason gave a sigh, "I think that idiot has gone and got himself lost in the mist"

Misty sighed, "I think so too, and I was really looking forward to having some tea," she said in disappointment.

Brock nodded and began to pack everything away, "give me a hand to pack up and then we'll go look for him," he said getting a nod from both Mason and Misty as they packed up camp right quick before heading off in the direction that Ash went.

It only took them a couple of minutes to find Ash, in the middle of an argument with several younger teens all dressed in some kind of school uniform.

"...we have to maintain our standards," a kid with green hair argued back at Ash.

"Oh yeah, well if this school of yours is turning out students like you then I'd think the standards would be pretty low already" Ash snapped back

"That's right Ash you tell em" Misty called Ash on as she and Mason walked up to them with Brock training behind.

"So these are the infamous Pokémon tech students?" Mason said as he eyed the group of blazer wearing teens before scoffing, "I'm not impressed. Pokémon tech? What a joke."

"Pokémon tech?" Ash asked confused, as Misty walked up to him and began to explain.

The five other teens glared at Mason for his comment, "what was that!" one with spiky red hair growled.

"I said Pokémon tech is a joke, I mean seriously, name me one student who graduated from your so-called school who's even made it past a single Pokémon of the Elite Four, never mind took on the regional champion" Mason rolled his eyes.

"And what would you know" A green-haired boy spat, "you're just a pathetic nobody, you probably don't even know the first thing about being a trainer"

Mason smirked, "I bet I'd know more than the five of you combined because unlike the five of you I don't limit myself to what's taught in the classroom and believe everything I'm told"

"Oh yeah, prove it?" a blue-haired boy said cockily.

Masons shrugged, "alright, let's try something simple then, how many Pokémon types are there?" he asked plainly.

The blue-haired boy snorted while a boy with long black hair answered, "there are fifteen types, everyone knows that" he said getting nods from the four others in agreement.

Ash chuckled while both Misty and Brock just looked amused, Mason down right smirked, all that seemed to piss the five boys off.

"What's so funny?" the black-haired boy growled.

"Your answer," Mason replied, knowing that Ash, Misty and Brock were already in the know about this after he had taken time, the other day, to educate Ash on the Pokémon types during their training session, needless to say, Misty and Brock had been impressed with his advanced knowledge given that most new trainers wouldn't be aware of such things, "there are actually, eighteen types. Two new types were discovered in Johto, Steel and Dark, while in the Kalos region Fairy types were discovered, and many Pokémon are being reclassified with more than one typing because of this" he explained, having actually verified this information back in his trip to the cerulean library, the trip had been very informative for him.

The five boys looked like they had just been gut-punched by the statement, half looking pissed at being lectured and the other half annoyed at the fact that they were wrong.

"Pokémon Tech has a set curriculum based off of this regions knowledge of Pokémon at the time, but that is the problem. Pokémon are not just confined to this region and knowledge does not remain stagnant, and if you learn everything in a classroom you can't verify it all for yourself. To do that you have to get out there and travel," Mason stated, "the school won't give a shit about you, it doesn't care, it's already got the money from your parents for your education. And if you fail after graduating its not their fault, it's yours for not trying hard enough."

Four of the boys looked to be in thought about Mason's words, but the redhead boy just clicked his teeth and turned away, "whatever, I'm not going to listen to a wannabee like you, come on guys" he said as he started walking back into the mist, the others following him.

Mason just shook his head, "idiots"

The student left behind looked to Mason frowning, "did you really mean that?" he asked looking crestfallen.

Mason looked to him and sighed, "I did, Pokémon technical is a joke of an institution, while it may have a lot of fancy toys, it doesn't teach you anything different than what you can learn on your own while you travel, it's a waste of money that would be better spent on books for self study and supplies for traveling" he stated from his own point of view, "you'd be far better off withdrawing, getting your tuition back and travelling to learn what you need to know to be a good trainer, and not be cooped up in some classroom."

The young boy looked down and went into thought over mason's words, while Ash seemed to be getting angry.

"Oh those guys are really getting on my nerves, who do they think they are, where is this place anyway" Ash began to say only to be cut off as the sound of a bell rang out and the mist began to clear away.

"_**Today's special class: fog battle techniques, is now ended. Tomorrow's class will be: snow competition secrets" **_a female robotic voice said over a loudspeaker as the mist faded away to reveal the large triple story building with white walls and a red roof, and the fact that they were currently standing in the courtyard of the school grounds.

Mason snorted, "like I said, a lot of fancy toys," he said rolling his eyes.

The young boy sighed, "oh well, I guess they'll make me into a snowman again just like the last time"

"Do they treat you like that all the time?" Ash asked shocked, "why do you put up with it?"

"My friends are just trying to help me," the boy defended, "I've learned a lot with them helping me"

"With friends like those. Who needs enemies" Brock said with a frown.

"It's better than the alternative," the boy said and pointed over to a middle-aged looking man with glasses in a uniform huddled under a tree reading a book, "that guy's an upperclassman, but he's in the beginner class with me because the advanced classes are so hard people get held back all the time, no one wants to leave without getting a diploma, and because he's so old no one bothers to help him, as my friends help me"

"And what do the teachers think about that kind of help?" Misty asked not sounding impressed.

"They don't even know about it, or if they do they pretend not to" the kid replied with a sigh.

Mason just rolled his eyes, "as I said, the school doesn't care about you, it just wants your money, if it did care about its students then every student would be graduating in a set time frame with each getting taught all they need to know, even if it is just the basics, it would give you a base to grow your knowledge out from as you travel"

"I for one think this whole thing is stupid, who's in charge of this helping anyway," Ash said with a growl.

The kid reached into his blazer and took out a photo and showed them, Mason just glanced to see the picture of a brunet girl who looked to be about the same age as them. "This is her picture?"

Almost immediately both Ash and Brock began to look at the picture with an unhealthy interest, Misty, on the other hand, wasn't impressed.

"Hey if she's the reason that you're treated so badly why are you carrying her picture around?" Misty snapped.

The kid rubbed the back of his head, "I may hate how she treats us but I like how she looks" he admitted

"Unlike some other girls who treat you bad and look even…" Ash began to say absentmindedly only to be silenced when Misty drove her fist into the top of his head and slammed his face into the ground.

"Shut your mouth," Misty snapped before she began to stomp off.

Mason arched an eyebrow, "Misty? Where are you going?" he asked having an idea.

"Where do you think? To find this little witch so I can straighten her out!" Misty yelled back as she stomped towards the front doors muttering dark thoughts under her breath.

* * *

**Scene break**

With no other options left to them, the four boys followed Misty into the school, and after five minutes of aimlessly walking around looking for the girl, Misty finally gave in to let Joe guide them to where Giselle normally works by herself.

It took them a couple more minutes to get to the room which was rather big, filled with a load of machines with screens on them.

"Giselle always practices here by herself" Joe explained as he leads them into the room, "even if you beat her in a fight it won't matter to her, here at the tech, it's your skill as a trainer that counts more than winning in any one battle."

"I don't care, I'm still going to beat her" Misty declared angrily, "I trained at the cerulean city gym, I don't care how good she claims to be"

"Oh, Cerulean city, water Pokémon," Joe said as he moved to one of the machines and booted it up.

"How do you know?" Misty asked scowling.

"I always beat em on the simulator here," Joe said as he played through the simulated battle with his Weepinbell beating the Starmie.

"What is this!" Misty said sounding offended, "a simulation is one thing, but this is real life!" she said as she took out Starmies Pokéball, "lets battle"

Joe gave her a grin, "you'll be sorry" he said as he got up.

Mason just shook his head, "no kid, you're the one who's going to be sorry.

* * *

**Time skip**

And Mason was right he was sorry, Joe's Weepinbell didn't even get out one attack before it was hit by an overpowered water gun from Starmie that knocked it out in one go, giving Misty the win in an instant.

Ash looked to Mason, "hey Mason, didn't you say that grass was the best choice to go against water Pokémon, along with electric before?" he asked, "so why did Joe lose?"

Mason snorted, "typings are important, but a Pokémons training is also important, Misty's Starmie has far more battle experience than Joe's Weepinbell, and as a result is far stronger," he stated only to stop when the sound of a single applause was heard.

"Well I must say," came a female voice making them all look to see Giselle walk over to them followed by the five boys from before, "it appears that you do actually know some key things about being a Pokémon trainer," she said looking at mason before glancing to Joe, "things that others still apparently need to learn, you're an embarrassment to the whole school"

Both Ash and Brock began to fawn over Giselle's beauty, but Mason just looked at her dispassionately. As she began her little speech.

"I'm the top student in the beginning class of the most exclusive prep school in the…" Giselle began only to be cut off by mason.

"If by most exclusive you mean most expensive, you'd probably be right," Mason stated, "also being the top student in a beginners class really isn't something to be boasting about, considering you look about a year older than all your fellow classmates," he pointed out.

Giselle looked like she had just been slapped, before she glared at Mason, "how dare you, I just held myself back because I want to help my classmates be the very best that they can be" she defended herself.

"Translation, you moved on to the next class and found it to hard so held yourself back just so that you could keep boasting that you were the top of your class instead of having to work" Mason said bursting her bubble, deciding to give her a taste of her own medicine just as she had given Joe in the anime.

"Shut your mouth!" Giselle snapped back at him, "you don't know anything about me!"

"I know a pretender when I see one, and you have it written all over that pretty little face of yours, with an attitude like yours I'm reminded of the saying that some peoples' beauty is only skin deep" Mason countered back

"Pretender am I," Giselle said as she brushed her hair back, "I'll show you, I challenge you to a…" she began to say again only for Misty to but in this time.

"Hold it!" Misty yelled, "if anyone is battling you I am, is anyone is going to put you in your place it will be me" she declared before Mason had a chance to stop her.

Giselle just snorted, "Fine then," she said as she plucked her Pokéball from the stand, "this won't take long, go Graveller!" she called tossing the Pokéball as the large bolder Pokémon appeared on the field.

Mason frowned, he knew what was going to happen, but he couldn't exactly stop things now, if he did Misty would get angry at him for getting in her way, and Giselle would just boast about things, even more, he had to admit the anime had it right in this particular instance, '_never get yourself into the middle of a catfight'_

Graveller grinned before it jumped at Starmie with speed, Starmie dodged quick enough and countered with a water gun only for Graveller to attack again completely unphased by the water and collided with Starmie, mid-air and send it flying out through a window and into the pool.

Misty looked at the broken window in shock before she quickly took off to check on her Pokémon, everyone following her out.

* * *

**Scene break**

The group ran out to the pool and Misty quickly fished Starmie out of the water looking very worried about the damaged gem on Starmies front as she held her Pokémon close out of worry.

"Well that didn't take long," Giselle said as she brushed her hair back, "if you still want to battle we can continue here, you'll even have the advantage with the water from the pool," she stated.

Misty looked at Giselle with a hateful glare, "and I suppose you'll use another Pokémon with a weakness against water," she said angrily

"Pokémon are only as strong as the trainers who raise them. A Pokémon who's weaker but better trained can still win, it depends on the trainer" Giselle boasted, "as a Gym leader you should know that" she added snobbily.

Mason frowned, "and I'm sure that you trained your Pokémon all by yourself for long hard hours on end, and didn't use any of Daddy's money to buy your Pokémon from other trainers who have already trained them to be that strong" he stated voicing his suspicions, he had always found it suspicious how this girl had such strong Pokémon.

Giselle scoffed, "so what if I did, a trainer uses every advantage they have to win. So what if I didn't train all my Pokémon by myself, they're still mine, and I still won"

"That isn't what being a trainer is about," Mason said firmly, "while it's true that Pokémon types may not play a key point in Pokémon battles when one side is clearly stronger than the other. What is important it the training that the Pokémon go through. How can you call yourself a trainer if you rely on other people to train your Pokémon!"

"What matters is winning, and that's all there is to it, go ahead prove me wrong" Giselle challenged him.

Before Mason could respond Ash stepped up, "gladly" he said getting a look of confusion from Giselle.

"And just who are you?" Giselle asked.

Mason at this point ignored the conversation and instead went to help Misty with Starmie as he took his bag off his back and began to fish out his medical supplies.

"Here lay Starmie down here," Mason told her as he put his jacket down for some padding for Starmie.

Misty nodded and did so, "thanks," she said as she watched silently as Mason began to treat her Pokémon feeling completely trodden on how she had been beaten so easily like that.

"Hey," Mason said getting her attention as he applied the potions, "don't let that one battle get to you. You don't have any idea how skilled Gravellers last trainer was, so you had no idea how strong it would be, don't blame yourself for Starmie losing. I'm sure if you were using Gyradose out there in that battle you would have won no problem"

Misty gave a small smile at Mason's words and brought her hand up to her eye to wipe away a small tear she felt coming, "t-thanks Mason" she said softly and turned away to hide a slight blush she felt forming from his words, '_he has such faith in me' _she thought to herself and couldn't help the warm feeling in her chest.

Mason smiled as he caught the bush but didn't say anything as he went back to treating Starmie. It only took a few minutes until the Mysterious star Pokémon to be back up on its pointed legs, the gem on its front completely healed.

Just in time for the silence to be broken by a shrill cry of, "I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS!"

Both Misty and Mason looked over to see Giselle throwing a fit, with her Cubone on the ground in front of her crying and Ash celebrating with Pikachu over their win.

"It's not possible I refuse to believe that an electric Pokémon can beat my ground Pokémon, there's no way!" Giselle declared angrily.

"Even though it just happened?" Ash said clearly not happy with her attitude.

"Shut…!" Giselle began to yell at Ash only to stop when Cubone came over to her still crying and hugged her legs for comfort, and she glared down at the small Pokémon, "get off of me!" she snapped and kicked him away, getting shocked looks from the other students and the gang all watching.

"Don't touch me! How can you call yourself my Pokémon when you can't even win when you have a clear type advantage, and after daddy spent so much money on your training!" Giselle snapped angrily.

Cubone burst out into fresh tears from being refused comfort and began sobbing even louder.

"Be quiet!" Giselle snapped, "that's it, I don't need a weak Pokémon like you who can't even win a battle with a type advantage," she said before throwing Cubone's Pokéball at the ground, breaking it in half, before she stomped away in a fit.

Everyone was speechless as they watched Giselle go. Mason swallowed hard, '_that certainly didn't happen in the anime, did I cause this to happen?' _he thought to himself as he started to feel bad for Cubone, had his words actually caused this to happen, and knew he had to do something.

Slowly he approached Cubone and knelt down to the small Lonely Pokémon, "hey Cubone?" he began to say only for Cubone to instantly latch onto him crying.

Mason frowned and let out a sigh as he placed his hand on Cubone's back to comfort the small Pokémon, "its okay" he told it, "you don't have to be sad" he spoke softly as he took out the potion in his pocket, there was just enough left from treating Starmie to help Cubone, and he gently began to apply it to the small injuries that Cubone had from battling Pikachu.

It took only a few seconds for the wounds to heal and for Cubone's cries to turn to sniffles as the pain ebbed away.

"There we go all better," Mason smiled, "you're pretty strong you know, I caught some parts of your battle with Pikachu," he spoke with a smile as the small Pokémon looked up to him, "I don't care what that girl says about you, you're strong, why don't you come with me, my team would love to have you."

"Cubone?" the small Pokémon said and Mason smiled getting the idea from his tone.

"Yes really, so what do you say?" Mason replied, only for Cubone to start crying and hugging him again, Mason smiled and rubbed its back, "I'll take that as a yes"

* * *

**Time skip**

After successfully capturing Cubone in a Pokéball, Mason and the others went to leave the campus, wanting to put this whole incident behind them and continue their journey. But much to their shock they were met at the gates by Joe along with the five other teens that had been bullying him before. Each of them in travelling clothing.

'_Guess I really did change a lot just by being here' _Mason thought to himself before speaking up, "what's all this then?"

The leader of the group with red hair rubbed the back of his head, "listen, I want to apologize about what I said before, we've thought a lot about what you said earlier," he began to explain.

"We used to really look up to Giselle, we all thought she was great until today," the teen with blue hair said.

"We never thought that she'd do something like that, she always talked about how she was for the future of Pokemon and Pokemon trainers, now we can see that was all a load of lies" the green-haired kid added.

"We've all talked and decided to do what you suggested before Mason," Joe spoke up, "this school is great and all but we all really just want to get out there and become real trainers, and not fake ones like Giselle."

Misty smiled, "that's great, I'm glad that you've all seen what a total bitch she is," she said glad that they weren't blinded by her pretty face and could see her for what she was now.

The redhead nodded, "yes, we've all called our folks and told them of our decision, we're all going to be travelling together to help support one another, but not in the same way as we did here, that was all Giselle's idea"

Mason nodded, "well I'm glad to see that I had a positive influence on you then," he said as he held his hand out to the redhead trainer, "I'll be looking forward to facing each of you when the indigo league comes around"

The redhead nodded and shook Mason's hand, "same here, call me Jasper"


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

**Hidden Pokémon Village**

It was another day of travelling for our group, and once more Mason found himself irritated beyond belief. It had been two days since they had left Pokémon tech, and while it had been a productive two days, training-wise. The actual travelling aspect of their journey felt like they were going in circles.

'_God, I hate filler episodes, this is precisely why I didn't want to travel with these three,'_ Mason thought to himself as the four of them pushed onward through waist-high tall grass in the middle of a forest, '_and here I thought tall grass was only in the video games'._

"Remind me again whose bright idea it was to take a shortcut through the forest," Mason sighed as he swatted a bug away from him making a mental note to buy some bug spray at the next city, '_no wonder they took so long to get to Vermillion City at this snail's pace.'_

"Don't worry," Ash said looking back at Mason as he leads them through the grass, "I'm positive this way will take us back to the path"

"Positive hm?" Brock added from the rear of the group not sounding the least bit convinced.

"That's what you said an hour ago," Misty groaned, "I'm tired, we've been walking for ages. I told you to stick to the main road but no, you had to take a "Short cut"," She added with a sigh.

"I took the shortcut?" Ash said indignantly, "it was you who said to go this way!" Ash defended himself.

"No she didn't she said not to go this way," Mason voiced remembering a couple hours back when Ash had decided to veer off the path wanting to catch some Pokémon and they had all followed him.

"Exactly!" Misty stated pleased that Mason was agreeing with her, "If I was leading we wouldn't be lost like this!"

"Who says we're lost!" Ash yelled angrily, still refusing to admit it.

"The fact that we've been walking for hours and the road is nowhere in sight is a big clue," Mason replied as he pushed past Ash who had stopped to argue with Misty, "Now come on, lets go and find a place to rest for a bit and then when we can figure out where we are."

Brock nodded as he walked after him, "good idea, we'll all think clearer after some food and everyone's had a chance to cool off" he agreed.

Both Misty and Ash gave each other one final glare before they turned and started to walk forward again following Mason who was now leading them.

Thankfully for their feet, it only took another five minutes to get out of the tall grass and reach a clearing with some rocks for them all to sit on, and rest.

Misty quickly sat on the most comfortable rock and began to take her shoes off and rubbing her feet, "Finally, all this walking was killing my feet"

Mason sighed as he took his bag off and slumped at the side of a bolder and slid down it to rest, "your telling me, even with my padded boots my feet are still throbbing, what I wouldn't give for a warm bath, even a cold basin of water to soak my feet in would be heaven right now," he said as he rested his head back on the bolder.

Brock nodded, "Yeah now let's eat something," he said as he opened his bag and took out a small box opening it to show some rice balls that he had prepared earlier and started to hand them out, "it's important to keep our energies up when we're on the road"

"Brock if I had a hat I'd take it off to you, that's the smartest thing I think I've ever heard you say" Mason joked as he took one of the offered rice balls and began to eat it grateful for the food.

Sadly Mason's little reprieve was not to last as no sooner had Ash his rice ball eaten they all heard the sound of splashing, and Ash was quickly on his feet to check out the sound to discover that it was a small Odish drinking from a small spring at another set of boulders across from the ones they were currently resting at.

"Oh wow, a Pokémon" Ash said as he quickly took out his Pokédex and pointed it at the small Oddish to check its data.

"_**Oddish. This Pokémon is typically found roaming the forest, scattering pollen as it walks around.**_" the Pokédex recited from its records.

"I'll catch it" Ash announced as he put his Pokédex away and took out his Pokéball ready to battle the small grass type.

"Hold it," Misty said as she got in front of Ash, "its near water so I want to catch it."

"Ah come on misty I saw it first" Ash complained.

Mason sighed, '_here we go' _he thought to himself as he moved to stand up, "Misty, Oddish isn't a water Pokémon," he said as he stood up, "it's a grass type."

Misty smirked, "I know, but it's still cute" she said taking out her Pokéball, "just because I'm a water Pokémon trainer doesn't mean I can't catch a cute Pokémon." she said before looking to see the small grass type running away, "oh no you don't, go Starmie." she said before throwing her Pokéball and calling out her Pokémon to block Oddish from escaping.

Oddish quickly began to change its route and tried to escape, not wanting to battle.

"Oh no, you don't Starmie use Water Gun!" Misty ordered and Starmie obeyed firing a powerful stream of water that sent Oddish into the air, "that's it, now finish with Rapid Spin!"

As soon as the water stopped Starmie was in the air spinning fast and catching the disorientated weed Pokémon by surprise and sending it to the ground its eyes spinning.

"Perfect," Misty said with a grin as she took out an empty Pokéball, "Pokéball go," she said as she tossed the ball at the downed grass Pokémon, only for a green blur to shoot out of the tree line and block the Pokébal before it hit its mark.

"What's that!" Ash said in shock as Misty looked disappointed that her capture had failed.

Mason smirked as he saw what had blocked the ball. Bulbasaur stood protectively in front of Oddish growling as it glared at them, "looks like a Bulbasaur to me, and it doesn't look one bit happy"

"Oh wow I can't believe it a Bulbasaur," Ash said acting starstruck seeing the rare Pokémon, and mason couldn't blame him either considering how rare the Pokémon was.

Ash quickly held up his Pokédex to get another reading, "_**Bulbasaur. It bears the seed of a plant on its back from birth. The seed slowly develops. Researchers are unsure whether to classify Bulbasaur as a plant or animal. Bulbasaur are extremely tough and very difficult to capture in the wild."**_

As soon as Ash's Pokédex finished speaking as if to prove it right, Bulbasaur sprinted forward and caught Starmie with a powerful Tackle attack, knocking the star Pokémon back before Bulbasaur let its vines shoot out and smack Starmie hard sending the water Pokémon back even further with some serious damage.

"Starmie!" Misty cried and ran to her downed Pokémon, who had taken some serious damage from the two attacks one being super effective and a critical hit.

Ash quickly stepped forward, "Now it's my turn," he said as he pulled a Pokéball from his belt, "Butterfree, go use Sleep powder!"

Butterfree appeared out of his Pokéball in the air and instantly went in as ordered. Mason couldn't help but smirk seeing it, Ash certainly was learning from him well, this had been something Mason had drilled into his head about getting the advantage quickly in none official matches and wild encounters, if you called the attack as you were calling your Pokémon out your Pokémon didn't have to wait for an order and inadvertently give the opponent a chance to attack first. Mason just counted him unlucky that this was the first time Ash put his tactics into use.

No sooner had Butterfree started to fly over and let out the glittering powder did Bulbasaur start a counter-attack by taking in a deep breath and literally blowing the powder back at Butterfree who instantly began to sag in the air as he became sleepy.

'_Note to self, use Hypnosis or another sleep-inducing move that doesn't involve spores, too easily countered by smart Pokémon' _Mason made the mental note inwardly smirking at Bulbasaurs creativity.

"Oh no, Butterfree hang in there…" Ash began to say, but it was too late.

As soon as Butterfree got low enough to the ground Bulbasaur went in for another tackle and sent the butterfly Pokémon flying, along with Ash's hope of catching him, before he and Oddish took off running as Ash slumped to the ground in defeat.

"Oh! The Bulbasaur!" Ash whined as he watched them runoff.

Mason sighed, "well that was something, come on let's go.." he tried to say only for Ash to cut him off.

"No, I'm not giving up!" Ash interrupted as he quickly recalled Butterfree and quickly took off running after Bulbasaur with Pikachu giving chase, "I'll catch that Bulbasaur just you wait and see!"

"Ash!" Brock called as he began to run after him.

"But we only just stopped walking!" Misty called as she went as well.

Mason slumped, "can't we just have five minutes to rest" he groaned before running back to grab his backpack and took off sprinting after them, his feet throbbing.

* * *

**Scene break**

"I can't believe you lost it, and to make matters worse, now we're even more lost than we were before," Misty groaned as they walked through the forest.

It had been twenty minutes since the battle with Oddish and Bulbasaur and the group of four were once again lost after following Ash deeper into the forest.

"It's not my fault, I know they went this way, they're just too fast," Ash complained as they walked.

"Oh, and who was the idiot who went running into the forest after them" Mason grumbled the throbbing in his feet had reached a new level of pain and he was getting really sick of walking and he knew it was only going to get worse.

Thankfully they seemed to reach a clearing in the forest, only for them to realise that they had reached a divide in the forest where a large chasm divided the forest with a rope bridge leading across to the other half.

"Ha, I knew it, they must have crossed over this way," Ash said as he started to cross the bridge, "I bet there are loads of Bulbasaur on this side of the forest," he said victoriously.

Mason sighed and resigned himself to his fate knowing what was going to happen as he began to cross the bridge as well, keeping one hand firmly on the right-hand side of the bridge, knowing what was coming.

"But where is this place," Misty said as she looked around as they crossed, sounding concerned.

"I can't find this bridge on my map," Brock added as he held his map out in front of him.

Mason sighed, "next chance I get I'm getting a GPS or a Pokénav, I hate being lost" he complained, only to stiffen as the wind began to blow stronger, this was it.

Suddenly the bridge began to rock violently with the wind and Mason heard the telltale snap of the rope behind and to his left, he gripped the right-hand rope hard with his right hand and reached behind him as the bridge started to go and grabbed Misty's wrist as the bridge went.

"AAAAAHHHH!" Brock cried as he fell from the bridge as he lost what little grip he had and fell from the bridge landing in the river below.

"Brock fell into the river," Ash yelled.

"Yeah, no shit!" Mason snapped, "Worry about him later, right now start climbing or we're going to be next!" he yelled as he held onto the bridge with one hand while he held Misty by the other.

"Mason, don't let go!" Misty pleaded as she held onto his hand for dear life.

"Wasn't planning on it!" Mason groaned and was instantly thankful for the training that he had been putting himself through as he began to pull himself over to reach the ropes of the other side of the bridge to use as a kind of support to help them reach the other side.

* * *

**Time skip**

Those were the longest minutes of Mason's life as he climbed out of the chasm from the bridge and pulled himself and Misty over the edge, before he collapsed on his back panting hard, '_that's it, from now on I'm doubling my workout routine' _he thought to himself as he tried to get his breath back, before he suddenly found his mind be taken by something else as Misty hugged him breathing hard as well, but out of fear.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Misty said rapidly as she hugged him tightly, "I thought I was a goner until you grabbed me!"

Mason was too out of breath to reply, that climb had really taken it out of him, his heart was hammering in his chest, and could only nod in response as he lay on the ground spread eagle, his arms feeling like lead weights… and his feet were still killing him.

"I'm completely wiped out!" Ash said as he rested on his hands and knees just off to the side of them.

After a moment Misty suddenly pulled herself up with a gasp, "oh no, we can't rest now, we need to find Brock"

Mason who was still getting his breath back held up a finger, "...Minute" he panted desperately needing to catch his breath but nonetheless began to slowly pull himself to his feet to get ready to start the search.

* * *

**Time skip**

Following the side of the chasm, they were lucky enough to find a small goat path down the side of the cliff that went in the direction that the river had carried Brock off in. Reaching the bottom they took off down the path that followed the river that seemed to be getting wider as the chasm started to lessen off and get lower.

As they were running Mason was wincing as he felt every step with how sore his feet were, he was sorely tempted to stop and let his feet cool off in the river but knew the others wouldn't really be okay with that and explaining things wasn't really an option.

As he ran Mason suddenly felt the ground began to give out from under him as he took a step, and his eyes widen, "whoa!" he cried as he suddenly felt himself falling but just barely managed to put his other foot forward in time and reach back to grab Misty yet again as she let out a cry as she began to fell and pulled her forward as well. Pulling them both out of the way just as the ground gave way revealing a large pit trap behind them.

"Wow, thanks!" Misty said as both she and Mason looked back at the hole.

"Don't mention it," Mason said back before frowning at the whole, it was a good eight-foot drop, '_that would have hurt"_

"What's this doing here?" Ash asked confused as to why there was a large hole in the middle of the road.

Mason sighed, "well isn't it obvious, someone had booby-trapped this side of the forest, first the bridge just giving out like that and now this, someone clearly doesn't want visitors"

"Never mind that now," Misty said as she turned, "we'll just have to be on the lookout for more if that's the case, we need to find Brock."

Mason nodded and started walking as well but winced on the next step and stumbled slightly. "Ow!" he complained

Misty looked to him in worry, "are you okay?"

Mason shook his head, "my feet are killing me, it feels like I'm walking on hot coals with every step" he sighed as he moved to the side and sat down on a stone, wincing with every step, "you two go on ahead, I need to rest my feet for a bit, I'll catch up"

Both nodded to him and started off again as Mason sighed and tried to move his feet again only to wince, "I hate walking" Mason moaned to himself as he moved over to the river painfully and, not caring anymore dunked both his feet into the water, boots and all, letting out a relieved sigh as the cool water soaked into his socks and boots, he really needed that.

'_There has got to be a better way to travel than on foot'_ Mason sighed to himself as he lay back on the ground his feet soaking in the water.

* * *

**Time skip**

Mason only rested for about half an hour before pulling himself to his feet again, his feet were still sore but his water-soaked socks and boots managed to keep them cool so the pain wasn't too bad and let him continue on for the next bit of the walk. The problem came when he didn't find Misty or Ash anywhere and groaned, "where the hell did those two get to," he said to himself as he continued to follow the river.

He knew they had to be along the bank somewhere, they couldn't have been that far ahead of him. He didn't have to wait much longer however as he finally found the pair of them sitting contently in a net hanging from a tree.

He stood there for a moment before sighing, "do I even want to know?" he asked, inwardly glad that he had stopped when he had and not got caught up as well.

"Mason!" Misty said happy to see him.

"Cut us down, we've been stuck up here for ages!" Ash complained as he began to struggle.

Mason sighed and shook his head as he moved to the rope holding the net up, "alright, hold still" he said as he began to take his bag off his back remembering he had gotten a knife as part of his supplies back in Pewter city, but paused when he heard a snap off to the left before a familiar voice spoke.

"Here you guys are!" Came Brock's voice as he came through the trees.

"Hey, Brock!" Ash yelled, just as Mason cut the rope to the net and let the net drop a few feet before he grabbed it.

Unfortunately for Ash his part of the net broke and he fell out, with Pikachu landing on top of him as a cushion, while Misty was lowered slowly to the ground and got to her feet.

"Where have you been Brock we've been searching for you for ages now," Mason said as he folded the knife up and put it away in his bag again.

"Yeah," Ash agreed as he got up, "We saw you fall into the river, then what happened?"

"Well I was being washed away in the rapids," Brock said as he began to recount his story, "when I was about to go under a hand reached out and caught mine before pulling me from the river, the girls who saved my life was incredibly beautiful"

"Beautiful girl hm?" Ash said a little bit in disbelief.

Mason snorted, "Leave it to you to fall from a cliff and end up getting saved by a beautiful girl," he said shaking his head, "isn't it meant to be the knight in shining armour that saves the princess, and not the other way around?" he joked.

"Oh Ha-Ha," Brock responded dryly, "Anyway come on and follow me, I've got something to show you all," he said as he began to lead them back in the direction he had come from.

Mason followed behind limping slightly the pain in his feet still present, '_I'm going to need to get myself a walking stick at this rate' _he thought to himself.

* * *

**Time skip**

It took them a few minutes before the four of them finally reached a clearing with a small cabin next to a small body of water. Walking out of the treeline they caught the attention of a young woman who looked to be about Brock's age with long Blue hair held back by a yellow bow, wearing a pink shirt and red overalls.

"Oh?" the woman said in surprise seeing them.

Brock smiled, "Melanie, these are my friends that I told you about, Ash, Misty and Mason," he said as he introduced them, "Guys this is Melanie,"

"Oh so these are your friends" Melanie smiled before giving a slight bow, "so your Brocks friends, he's told me all about you"

Mason nodded before looking over to see all of the Pokémon currently eating, Weepingbell, Ratata, Oddish, Paras, Caterpie, "quite the lineup of Pokémon you have here" he said drawing the attention of others attention.

"Oh wow," Misty said finally seeing them, "do all these Pokémon belong to you?" she asked.

"Oh no," Melanie denied as Brock walked over and began to pet the Paras.

"This is a place where Pokémon can rest and relax" Brock explained for her.

"Like a summer camp?" Ash suggested

"Well sort of, but all year long" Brock corrected.

"Sounds like a spa and resort to me," Mason said as he moved from foot to foot trying to keep his weight spread out so as not to hurt too badly, "I could really do with something like that right now."

Melanie noticed that he was in pain and frowned, "Oh my are you alright?" she asked.

Mason waved her off, "I'll be fine, but do you mind if I rest by the water to cool my feet, we've been walking for a while"

Melanie smiled, "not at all, please rest all of you, you're all welcome here" she invited them.

Mason nodded and limped over to the water and sat down to rest as he took his wet boots and socks off. The bottom of his feet were a painful red and were too painful to move as he slowly rolled the bottoms of his pants up and lowered his feet into the cool water and let out a sigh of relief as the cool waters washed over his sore feet. Taking off his bag Mason lay back on the cool grass and sighed, '_Much better'_ he thought to himself as he closed his eyes to relax, drifting off into a light sleep now that he knew he could.

It was about fifteen minutes later that Mason was gently nudged awake by Misty who smiled down at him while holding a paper plate down for him. "Hey, have a nice nap?" she asked.

Mason gave a yawn, "yeah, I needed it" he said as he slowly sat up and took the paper plate that had three rice balls on it. Looking behind him everyone else were eating and the others had let out their Pokémon to get some fresh air and food.

'_Odd, not something I remember happening in the series'_ Mason thought to himself but shrugged it off as he put the plate down before calling out his own team.

"Grub time guys, go ahead over to the others and get some food, we're resting here for a while," Mason told his team and they all nodded before doing just that.

Misty smiled as she sat down beside him by the water's edge, "how are your feet?" she asked.

Mason sighed, "a little better now, walking all that way was a bit more than what I'm used to," he said as he took up one of the rice balls.

"Did you not walk a lot before becoming a trainer?" Misty asked curiously.

Mason nodded, "I did, just never for hours on end like that," he said being careful of his words as he swallowed, remembering to stick to the story that he had come up with for Professor Oak about him being an orphan, "maybe one or two at max"

Misty nodded, "I remember back at the Pokémon centre in Viridian City, you said you were an orphan?" Misty asked gently, being careful.

Mason nodded, "I did, and it's okay, it's not a sensitive subject for me," he said making her relax, "I don't even remember my parents, to be honest. It's always just been me by myself."

"Must have been rough, growing up like that" Misty said sadly, feeling sorry for him, she knew what it was like not to have her dad any more, her mother had left on a cruise to get away from the memories, it had been too painful for her to stay around the gym after he passed away, and had left it to her sisters and her.

Nodding Mason finished his food, "it was a little, but I managed, I started travelling when I was young, I can't even remember where I'm originally from it was so long ago, but it doesn't matter, what matters is what I do for my future, I have my dream and that's all I need" he said trying to put an end to the topic before she asked any further questions.

Misty smiled, "I suppose," she said before sighing, "it's so peaceful here, Melanie has done a good job setting this place up"

Mason nodded, "yeah she has, I bet it was her that set up those traps we ran into, the bridge, the trap hole and net"

Misty nodded, "it was, Melanie, told us while you were resting, Brock also promised her that we wouldn't catch any Pokémon while we're here, because none of them are interested in being captured," she informed him.

Mason smirked, "Sure no worries, my team is coming along fine at the moment, I don't need to catch any Pokémon here for the time being" he brushed it off as he slowly began to take his feet out of the water and tested standing on them letting out a sigh when he didn't feel any pain, "good as new" he said before he began to go through his bag to get a dry pair of socks and his old trainers to pull on until his boots had dried out.

Misty smiled before spotting Oddish walking over for a drink, "hey Oddish," she said as the small weed Pokémon paused and looked up at her taking a step back.

"Oh no don't worry," Misty said as she got up and began to kneel down, "I'm sorry about what happened out in the forest, I shouldn't have surprised you like that" she apologised, "I bet you were scared"

Oddish gave a nod as it looked to be staying to listen.

Misty nodded, "you know Melanie told me that your old trainer got rid of you because he thought you were too weak is that true?" she asked gently.

Oddish nodded again looking down sadly.

"It's okay, some trainers can just be insensitive like that, but not all of us are mean like that" Misty explained not wanting the small Pokémon to be afraid of humans.

Mason smirked as he walked over now with his socks and trainers on, "Yeah, we're all different, and I can guarantee if Misty had caught you, you would have been happy with her,"

Oddish looked up to both of them with a look of awe on its small face.

Misty smiled as she reached out and gently began to stroke Oddish's long leafy hair, "you just need someone who understands you, anyway I just wanted to say I was sorry for what I did, I was brash and jumped in to fast, I hope you can forgive me" Misty said feeling regret for what she did.

Oddish watched Misty for a few moments as she spoke and seemed to tell that she was truly sorry for her actions and gave a nod of its head before smiling, "Oddish" it replied.

Misty smiled back and reached up to wipe away some of the tears she had begun to cry, "thank you Oddish, you're really sweet you know that. Lately, all I've been able to think about is winning, I hope I'm not becoming heartless"

Mason placed a hand on her shoulder as Oddish looked on in concern, "no Misty you're not becoming heartless, don't worry, its natural for a trainer to get competitive every once in a while and want to do better than they have been, you're a good trainer, so you have nothing to worry about," he told her as Oddish nodded in agreement, "see even Oddish agrees with me"

Misty sniffled and nodded, smiling and blushing a little bit from Mason's words, "thanks"

Mason nodded before movement caught his eye, "lookout" he said as he pushed Misty out of the way as he was hit from the side by a tackle attack to the gut and shoved to the ground with a grunt.

"Mason!" Misty said in shock, getting the attention of the others who began coming over to see Bulbasaur standing growling at Mason ready to attack again.

Mason's Pokémon instantly moved between their trainer and the attacking Pokémon ready to defend their trainer, Scyther blades at the ready, Spearow and Golbat in the air above ready to attack, the winds around them whipping up in response to Dratini who was getting ready to attack, Cubone stood protectively in front of Mason glaring at Bulbasaur with his club raised ready to attack and Poliwhirl who was in a fighting stance ready to strike as well. But even against multiple opponents, Bulbasaur didn't look as though he was going to back down.

"Hold on!" Mason said, his chest swelling with pride to see his team come to his defense, "Don't attack!" he ordered.

"Please wait!" Melanie said as she stepped in between the Pokémon who were ready to fight, "Bulbasaur is only trying to protect the village" she tried to explain as Mason got to his feet rubbing his gut.

"Stand down, all of you" Mason ordered his Pokémon again and they all obeyed loosening their stances as Spearow and Golbat came down from the air, and the winds died down as Dratini syphoned off the draconic energy it had been gathering.

"Well he has a funny way of showing it," Misty said as she went over to Mason, "attacking us like that."

Melanie frowned, "Please try to understand, Bulbasaur only wants to protect the village, he volunteered to be the village protector, he's fiercely protective of the village and doesn't like outside humans" she tried to explain.

"That would explain why he attacked," Mason said as he looked at Bulbasaur, "he thought that we were trying to take Oddish away from here."

Unable to get to Mason because his Pokémon were in the way, Bulbasaur turned his attention to the next closest human, the one who had attacked him earlier out in the forest when he was defending Oddish and stomped over to Ash and began to push hard on his shin.

"Now what?" Ash said in confusion as he tried to keep his balance.

"Bulbasaur wants you to leave the village. Like I said he's never liked outside humans coming into the village," Melanie explained.

"But we're not here to capture Pokémon" Misty complained, "we're here to help you."

"It's true Bulbasaur, these are our friends," Melanie said trying to convince Bulbasaur to leave them be.

But it didn't seem to convince the seed Pokémon as he just kept pushing on Ash's shin trying to force him to leave, he would deal with the others when this one was out of the way first.

Mason watched the scene rather solemnly, he had always wondered what had happened that had turned Bulbasaur so set against trainers, but then again he realised that watching his friends being captured by trainers who pass through, along with the tales of trainers who just abandon their Pokémon like trash would set anyone against the notion of trainers, it was a rather sobering thought.

But not a thought that occupied Mason's mind for long when a shadow began to overcast the entire clearing and he scowled looking up at the large floating object above them that Mason honestly didn't know what to make of. '_Honestly where do these idiots get these stupid machines, and why do they need such a huge, what is essentially, a vacuum cleaner' _he thought to himself as he watched the large machine fly overhead as they could just barely make out the sounds of Jessie, James and Meowth singing the Team Rocket motto from atop it before it came crashing down on the far side of the clearing.

"Great not these idiots again" Mason sighed.

"Here we go again" Ash agreed.

"Today only at Jessie's stadium it's the Team Rocket Pokémon challenge! All Pokémon are invited to enter the stadium!" Jessie announced as she stood confidently atop the massive machine before a large hose extended out from its side and into the valley before it began to shake and pull all of the air into it.

Mason had to steady himself as the backdraft almost lifted him off his feet but he managed to steady himself and reached forward just in time to grab Dratini as the small dragon was nearly pulled away by the wind.

Spearow was almost pulled away as well but was caught by Poliwhirl, Scyther stuck his bladed arms into the ground to keep from being pulled in and was able to catch Cubone who was lifted off the ground by the powerful winds, Golbat was beating her wings hard to keep from being pulled in as well.

Thinking fast Mason began recalling his Pokémon one by one to their balls while trying to keep his balance.

"They never run out of ideas do they!" Ash yelled as he jumped over to keep Staryu from getting pulled away by the suction.

"Everybody into the cabin!" Brock shouted as he wrenched open the door to the cabin and kept it steady while several of the Pokémon ran inside for shelter.

"ODDISH!" Mason heard Misty cry as the small weed Pokémon was pulled off its feet by the wind, only to be caught by Bulbasaur's vines the next moment and pulled back to safety.

Mason made his way over to Misty fighting against the winds and the two of them made their way to the cabin and helped Misty pull the door shut as Ash came in slowly helping Bulbasaur fight against the winds.

Pulling the door closed it wasn't long before they felt the cabin began to shake.

Mason frowned, "we need to do something about that hose, or this cabin is going to be pulled out of its foundations," he said as the building shook around them.

Bulbasaur taking the initiative went out the window at the side and quickly pulled himself onto the roof and using its vines began to attack the hose knocking its aim away from the cabin.

Feeling the cabin stop shaking Mason and Ash took the incentive as both burst out of the cabin Pokéballs in hand.

"Pidgeotto go, Gust attack!" Ash called as he tossed his Pokéball and Pigeotto came out her wings already beating as the winds began to move.

"Go Golbat, use Hyper Beam!" Mason Called as Golbat took to the air from her Pokéball as Pideotto's winds kept the hose and Team Rocket busy for a few seconds while she gathered the necessary energy into her mouth before the powerful beam of energy shot from her open mouth.

Mason heard the cries of team rocket as the powerful beam of energy cut through the machine like a hot knife through butter seconds before it exploded and launched the trio sky high.

Mason whistled as he watched them disappear, '_well that certainly was explosive' _he thought to himself as Golbat flew down and landed on his shoulder, "nicely done" he praised his Pokémon as the others came out of the cabin.

"Is everyone okay?" Melanie asked as she began doing a headcount of all the Pokémon there.

"Well I got the wind knocked out of me," Ash joked smirking as Pidgeotto came down to land on his arm.

Mason shook his head, "too soon" he sighed as he took up his Pokéball to recall Golbat to it.

Bulbasaur looked around and gave a sigh as well relieved to see all of his charges were safe.

Ash smirked, "this village is well protected with Bulbasar here"

Melanie seemed to study Ash for a moment before nodding, "Ash, don't you agree that Bulbasaur would make an excellent addition to your team?" she asked him.

Ash rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Well yeah of course…" he stated.

Mason turned away from the scene already knowing how it would go and was curious when he looked over to see Misty talking with Oddish again and approached them as he overheard the conversation.

"Are you absolutely sure? I don't want to if you're not completely," Misty was saying in concern but the small weed Pokémon was only nodding her small head vigorously at what was she was trying to tell Misty.

"What's going on?" Mason asked as he came over.

"Oh, Mason." Misty said not looking overly sure as she looked to him, "It's Oddish, I.. I think she's trying to tell me that she wants to come with me and be on my team." she explained.

Mason arched an eyebrow at that, '_that certainly never happened in the anime'_ he thought to himself, "Really, that's great. So what's the problem?" he asked.

Misty frowned, "Well, I've only ever trained Water Pokémon, you know because of my dream to be a master water Pokémon trainer, and while I would love to take her with me, I'm not sure I'd know how to properly train and care for a Grass-type Pokémon." she reasoned.

Mason sighed, "I understand, but you shouldn't worry, you're a great trainer Misty, and Oddish can see that, you'll do a great job regardless of Oddish's typing, don't doubt yourself on that" he encouraged her.

"You really think so?" Misty asked looking a bit doubtful.

Mason nodded, "I do, and I'll be there to help you. Count on it." he smiled.

Misty smiled back before she looked back to Oddish who was looking up to her, determination set on her small face, a look that made Misty smile more confidently and nods, "well okay then," she said before scooping the small Pokémon up into her arms, "welcome to the team Oddish"

"Oddish!" the small weed Pokémon cheered.

Mason smiled and nodded, "congratulations."

"Indeed" Melanie's voice sounded from behind Mason making him turn to her as she walked over, "I've seen this coming for a while now," she said as she smiled at Oddish and Misty, "Little Oddish has been getting more and more bolder and traveling further and further from the village every day as her confidence came back to her, I knew it wouldn't be long before she was ready to leave for good"

"Odd" the small weed Pokémon said in sadness.

Melanie smiled and walked over to gently stroke Oddish's grass-like hair, "it's okay Oddish, we'll miss you here, but this is for the best, and you're always welcome here any time, I know that Misty will take good care of you"

Misty nodded, "count on it," she said confidently smiling as she held Oddish in her arms, making the small weed Pokémon smile and nod, confidently as well.

Mason smiled at the sight it sure had caught him off guard and he wondered just what other changes this would mean in the coming future.


	13. Chapter 13

**Authors notes**

**Okay, everyone, I'm finally getting back into writing, things have been rough the past few months, I've been dealing with some personal things but I think I'm finally through the worst of it, and I'm happy to finally be getting back into the swing of things.**

**That being said this chapter has been one that I've read a lot of people asking me to change from the canon in past reviews. Now while I know that many have asked for it I've decided to go my own way with things and while many will not see this as an improvement I do, it shifts a good way from the canon in a way while still sticking close to things for my liking**

**As for those telling me that Mason should split off from the group he will be doing so in later chapters, I just want to stick to the canon for a little while longer while expanding on things that come up, so be patient.**

* * *

**Chapter 13**

**The flames of Loyalty**

It was multiple days after leaving the Pokémon sanctuary that Mason, Ash, Misty and Brock found themselves taking a break on the path to get their bearings. Brock was looking concerned over the map that he had folded out over a tree stump, while Mason was taking a drink from a water bottle next to him.

"So what's the word Brock," Mason asked as he put the cap back on his bottle and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, "how much longer?"

Brock frowned, "It's hard to say, I can't find where we are, if we are where I think we should be it should only be another few hours before we come to a Pokémon centre but for the life of me I can't find the last marker Ash said we past on the map" he scratched the back of his head.

Meanwhile, Ash had a pair of binoculars out and was surveying their surroundings. "Oh, there's nothing but Spearow around here" he complained, taking in the sight of a dozen of the bird Pokémon in the grass in the distance.

"That's the least of our worries isn't it," Misty sighed as she flexed her feet, sore from all the walking they had done.

"Just because we're a little lost doesn't mean I have to stop catching all the Pokémon I can, does it?" Ash replied back a little annoyed by her comment, not seeing her point at all.

Mason shook his head, "Ash if you were really so concerned with catching Pokémon you would have a full team by now, give it a rest" he commented as he looked over the map with Brock.

"Well excuse me, but you only just barely have a full team of Pokémon yourself, so you're one to talk" Ash shot back.

Mason glanced up from the map, "I catch Pokémon at my own pace, and I don't go out catching just any Pokémon, now get over here and tell us where the marker was" he told him with a scowl.

Ash huffed and walked over before glancing down at the map before pointing out a spot on the map, "there, that one, route twenty-four" he said proudly.

Mason's jaw dropped as he heard that and looked at the map as multiple things ran through his head, the first being that Ash was a complete idiot, Route twenty-four took them in the exact opposite direction of Vermilion City, the second being that he knew just what was going to happen next… Charmander… The prick Damian, oh Mason was going to make that bastard pay.

Brock sighed, "Ash that can't be, you must have read the route wrong, if we were on route twenty-four we'd be going the exact opposite way of Vermilion, see," he said as he pointed out Ash's logic.

"So we're completely lost!?" Misty exclaimed as she slumped to the ground in defeat, "We've been walking for ten whole days now"

Mason pat her shoulder, "well all we can do is try to find a Pokémon centre to get our bearings, the sooner we find one the sooner we can get a good bed to sleep in and a shower" he mused before sniffing his armpit and wincing, "I'm really starting to stink, water bottle showers just ain't going to cut it much longer"

"Then what are we waiting for," Misty said as she got up grabbing her bag, the prospect of a warm shower and comfortable bed seeming to have given her new energy as she set off at a power walk, "Let's go!"

Mason chuckled and shouldering his own bag, "well you heard the lady, guys. Forward march" he said knowing just what was coming as he set off to follow her with Brock and Ash coming up behind.

It didn't take them long, just another ten minutes of walking before they came to the rather large boulder, and Mason had to restrain himself to keep from sighing with relief when he saw Charmander atop it. He had been worried when they hadn't immediately found the boulder like in canon that he had somehow changed things in a bad way, and perhaps doomed the Charmander to die before they found him. But it looked like everything was still on track, for now.

"Is that a Charmander?" Brock asked as they came to a stop in front of the boulder looking up at the small fire-lizard perched atop the large rock.

Ash immediately fished out his Pokédex and pointed it at up in Charmanders direction.

"Charmander. The flame burns on the tip of its tail from birth. It is said that a Charmander dies if its tail ever goes out" Dexter reported confirming Brock's suspicions.

Mason frowned as he surveyed the Charmander, the flame on its tail looking weak and flickering, "Doesn't look to be in a good way does it," he commented as the Charmander was also breathing heavily on its perch.

"No it doesn't," Brock agreed.

"Then we'd better get it some help," Ash said as he took out a Pokéball, "when I first became a trainer, I was disappointed that I couldn't get a Charmander as my starter, looks like I'll get to catch one now," he said before throwing the enlarged Pokéball at the orange lizard.

But true to form Charmander turned on its spot and with a swipe of its tail knocked the Pokéball away and back to Ash.

"Touch little guy," Mason smirked.

"Yeah, looks like it still has plenty of strength to me" Ash commented as he looked at his Pokéball before looking at Brock, "Do you think I should have Pikachu battle it some to make it easier to catch?"

"Why don't you let me catch it? My water Pokémon would be a better match against a fire type like Charmander" Misty speaks up offering her aid.

Mason shook his head as he looked at Charmander, "I don't think that would be a good idea."

Brock nodded, "Mason's right, just look there, the flame on its tail," he said and pointed to the Charmander who was now breathing more heavily than before as it's flame flickered weakly,, it looked like it took nearly everything it had to deflect the Pokéball before. "There's no way it could still have the strength to battle. Ash, try the Pokéball one more time."

"Alright," Ash said, sounding more confident as he took aim and threw the Pokéball again.

This time Mason watched with narrowed eyes as the ball struck home without being deflected and pulled Charmander inside in a beam of red light before it landed on the rock.

"Alright!" Ash celebrated prematurely as the ball shook without the light at the front flashing before it burst open releasing Charmander just as it had been launching the Pokéball back at an unprepared Ash hitting him in the face.

"Sure has a lot of spunk" Brock commented as he crossed his arms looking at the Pokémon that was now glaring at the four of them.

Mason shook his head, "Something's not right," he commented, getting their attention, "Did any of you see how the Pokéball reacted when it pulled Charmander in, and after?" he asked.

"No, it just looked like a regular catch to me," Ash said dumbly.

Misty's eyes went wide as she realised what Mason was talking about, "there was no flashing light,"

Mason nodded, "exactly, there was no settling light and that can only mean one thing" Mason explained as he recalled one of the books he had read back in Cerulean city about how Pokéballs worked.

"It already has a trainer," Brock frowned.

Mason nodded, "looks like it," he said remembering how the book had explained how each individual Pokéball was registered to a trainer who purchased them, and how once a Pokémon was captured the Pokéball would register that Pokémon as caught through the Pokéball storage network and would prevent the Pokémon from being captured by another Pokéball until it was either released or the Pokéball was destroyed.

"If that's the case then why did its trainer leave it out here in this condition then?" Ash asked, angry that anyone calling themselves a trainer would do such a thing.

"I don't know, but if it has a trainer all we can do is leave it until its trainer comes back," Brock suggests with a sigh.

Mason shook his head, "No we shouldn't, we should take it to the Pokémon centre to get treatment if it has a trainer the centre should be able to locate them as well as reprimand them for pulling a stunt like this, its abuse, plain and simple" he stated, his anger clear in his voice, knowing full well how Charmander ended up out here, he wasn't about to let the prick get away with just a slap on the wrist for this. If he treated Charmander like this, just imagine what he treated his other Pokémon like.

Misty nodded, "we all know you're right mason," Misty agreed, "but what can we do, if it already has a trainer that means we can't catch it, and it's too weak to battle"

Mason sighed as he took off his backpack and handed it to Brock to carry before shrugging out of his coat, "there's more than one way to skin a cat," he muttered under his breath as he took his coat by its arms and moved to the bolder.

Charmander seeing him coming let out a weak growl and moved back as far as it could but it wasn't far enough as Mason scaled halfway up the boulder and used his coat to catch Charmander and pull it back and off the boulder before he wrapped it around the weakly struggling Pokémon to keep it from moving.

"Hold still," Mason said as he moved to wrap his arm around the small lizard Pokémon. He knew this was risky, but he was betting on Charmander from being too weak to burn itself out of his coat, "we're taking you to get healed, if you want to come back to this boulder to wait on your trainer after, fine, I won't stop you, but your life is in danger now" he said as he moved to hold Charmander in such a way that its tail was sticking out of the coat from behind him as he didn't want to smother it with his coat.

Despite his words, Charmander still continued to struggle in the coat making it difficult for Mason to hold. Ash quickly put his Pokéball away and ran over, "here let me help" he said as together they got a good hold on the struggling Pokémon and held it between them.

"Well that's one way to catch a Pokémon," Brock said shaking his head with amusement, "come on let's move"

Moving from then as a group the four of them moved as quickly and as gently as they could around the boulder and continued on the path they had been heading on.

Luckily for them, they spotted the Pokémon centre a few minutes later and were well down the path towards it when the sky began to darken and the first few drops of rain began to fall and they were making their way inside just before it really began to come down hard.

"That was well-timed," Brock commented as the doors shut behind them.

"Yeah any longer and we'd be getting soaked out there," Misty agreed.

Mason nodded and mentally sighed at their good timing, in the show the three of them had been caught out in the rain, that would definitely not have been good for Charmander. At that thought Mason looked back and swallowed hard, the flame on Charmander's tail was even smaller than before, now that he noticed it he also noticed that Charmander wasn't struggling any more, shit.

"Charmander needs help now," Mason said, getting their attention as he pulled Charmander to himself and began to rush over to the front desk.

"Nurse Joy, we have an emergency," Mason said, getting the nurses attention from behind the front desk as he brought the Charmander over to her and showed her.

It only took her one look before she quickly stood up, "Chansey, use Soft boil on this Charmander immediately" she ordered as one of the Chansey rushed over and held its arms out as the egg on its front began to glow brightly.

Then as Mason and the others watched a small piece of the light broke away from the egg in a small sphere and floated over and into the Charmander. Almost immediately Charmander began to breathe a bit more easily as its tail flame grew a bit brighter but not by much.

Once its flame had settled Nurse Joy picked Charmander up from Mason's coat, "we'll take it from here," she said giving them stern looks before she carried Charmander away from the counter just as a second Chansey came with a stretcher for her to place it on before the three of them wheeled it away through a set of double doors.

Mason caught her look but didn't say anything about it as she took Charmander away. Only sighing once the doors swung shut.

"Well nothing more we can do now," Mason said as he lifted his coat, "come on let's go and get washed and get some food in us while we wait, I'm sure Nurse Joy will have some questions for us when she is done."

The others nodded before they went looking for the rooms that trainers could stay in overnight.

* * *

**Time skip**

It was an hour later that Mason was leaving his room in fresh clothes after a nice long shower, he may have been in it longer than necessary but he wasn't about to let anyone judge him on it. After ten days of not showering, he was going to enjoy any and all luxuries of being indoors that he could when he could.

"Mason," Misty called to him from down the hall, "down here, Nurse Joy is done treating Charmander, she wants to speak with you" she called to him.

Mason nodded and began walking down to her and into the room where Charmander was resting, only to be met by a slap to the face from a clearly furious Nurse Joy.

"How dare you!" Nurse Joy snapped at him, "How dare you treat Charmander like this, it's condition was atrocious, it's not even half the weight it's meant to be, and it's exhausted beyond reason, how could you let it get like this! I should have your license as a trainer revoked! This kind of behaviour is inexcusable!"

Mason was so caught off by the slap and the rant that he was momentarily too stunned to speak, the slap had shocked him but by the end of her rant he realised just what had happened and what she was thinking. He didn't know what to feel angrier about first, her slapping him or the fact that she believed he was the one who had reduced Charmander to the state it was in. That last one felt like a punch in the gut, he would never do something like that.

He stood up to his full height in front of the nurse and glared at her, his fists clenched at his sides.

"Don't you dare," Mason growled, "Don't you dare ever, even insinuate, that I would ever treat a Pokémon like that" he spat, both in anger over being slapped and hearing Charmanders condition, "I would never do such a thing, and I'm insulted that anyone would even think that I would!" he snapped back at her.

Nurse Joy took a step back at his anger, her own faltering slightly at his response, she had been furious when she had realised Charmanders condition and had assumed as he was the one to bring Charmander in he had been the one responsible.

Misty herself in shock both from Nurse Joy's actions and Mason's anger quickly sPoké up in Mason's defence, "Mason would never treat a Pokémon like that, he cares for all his Pokémon better than any trainer I've seen"

"Misty and Mason are right," Brock sPoké up as well, "none of us would ever abuse a Pokémon like that,"

"Yeah, we found Charmander abandoned out on the road, weak and once we realized we couldn't catch it because it already had a trainer, Mason was the one to catch it with his coat so we could bring it here for treatment" Ash sPoké up after.

Nurse Joy listened to them and immediately seemed to realise her mistake at jumping to conclusions and quickly bowed apologetically to Mason, "Oh my, I'm sorry I just assumed that you were its trainer because you brought it in, I should have realised…" she began to continue but Mason cut her off.

"It's fine," Mason cut her off and moved past her to look at Charmander who was asleep on the only bed in the room, its tail propped up on a small stand, the flame was stable but still very small, "how's Charmander?"

Nurse Joy frowned but lifting the clipboard with her notes she began to rattle off the various things her scan had shown up, "severe malnutrition from a poor diet, depleted energy levels from overtraining, exhaustion from lack of sleep, various untreated injuries that look to be the result of battling long past the point that any responsible trainer would deem reasonable…" she continued.

Mason's fists were clenched by his side more and more as she continued to list off several other problems that she had found with Charmander as a result of both its harsh training and poor diet. This was much worse than in the show from what Mason could tell, and he was extremely glad that he had stepped in as he had and made sure Charmander got to the centre instead of being left out in the rain to catch pneumonia, that on top of everything else would have ended poorly he was sure.

"Will you be able to find its trainer?" Mason asked through clenched teeth, his voice cold.

Nurse Joy nodded, "if they haven't destroyed Charmanders Pokéball yes, if they have it will be a bit more difficult to prove they were Charmanders trainer, but I will do everything in my power to make sure they answer for doing this to Charmander."

Mason nodded, "good," he said before turning, "I'm going to go, and see to my team's dinner, I'll catch up with you guys later," he said and left them to watch over Charmander, his mind still railing from everything.

* * *

**Scene break**

It was about half an hour later that Mason sat at one of the tables in the corner of the Pokémon centre. All his Pokémon were out of their Pokéballs and were around the table, each with a bowl of Pokémon food in front of them eating away happily at the Pokémon food that Mason had taken the time to make from scratch from the recipe that he had gotten back in Cerulean city.

While his Pokémon were all eating he was doing his best to keep his mind and hands occupied to keep himself from thinking back on what had happened with Nurse Joy and Charmander. Taking the opportunity to use the portable Pokéblock mixer for the first time since he had bought it and was mixing some of the various berries that he had bought.

Though his attempts were for not, as he cranked the wheel on the mixer, his mind and thoughts flowed, his anger over how Charmander had been treated came to the front of his mind as he spun the crank faster and faster.

His anger must have shown through as Misty, Brock, Ash and Pikachu came over with trays of food.

"Easy there Mason, you don't want to break that now with how hard you're spinning it," Brock told him with a voice of understanding.

Mason broke from his thoughts and realised that he had kept spinning long after the blocks were done and sighed as he undid the top, "thanks Brock, I just can't seem to get Charmander out of my head."

"It's understandable," Brock said as the three of them sat down and Pikachu went over to join Mason's Pokémon eating, Dratini happily sharing some of his food.

"Any word from Joy as to who Charmander's trainer was?" Mason asked as he began to feed the Pokéblocks into the container he had for them.

Brock shook his head, "Not yet."

"She was just finishing treating Charmanders injuries, and she said she would check the system in a few minutes so she should know soon", Misty explained.

Mason nodded as he slotted the last of the blocks into the Pokéblock dispenser, and that was when he heard it, the smug voice, the offensive British accent that made him cringe.

Looking over to the centre of the room he could see the familiar blue hair of the prick he knew to be Charmander's trainer and his five buddies all crowded around the table in the lower sitting area of the centre. Even from where Mason was sitting he could see the table had a pile of shrunken Pokéballs on it well over the legal carry limit for a single trainer.

"Just look at 'em, it's a pretty cool collection if I do say so" the offensive accent carried, gaining the others attention as well.

"Way cool,", "You're the man Damian", "Yo, I thought you had a Charmander too?"

The now identified Damian scoffed and shrugged his shoulders, "Yeah, I had one. But that little shit was such a weakling I couldn't do anything with it. Even with all the training I gave it, it just didn't get any stronger. I was at my wit's end with it."

Hearing that Mason took in a breath as he had to hold himself back from immediately going over and pummeling the prat.

"So what did ya do with it?" one of the pricks' friends asked.

Damian laughed, "that thing was so pathetic, always following me around like some lost puppy. I eventually got rid of it by leaving it on a rock and promising I'd come back for it"

By this time Damian not only had the four trainers' attention but all of the Pokémon's attention as well and they were all glaring at Damian and his buddies angrily as the six of them started laughing like it was some kind of joke. Cubone looked down hearing about how casually the trainer had abandoned Charmander, being reminded about how he too had been abandoned.

"That thing's so stupid, I bet it's still out there right now waiting for me to come back, what a hoot" Damien joked getting another round of laughs from his buddies.

That was the last straw for Mason. He stood up from the table and gave a glance to Brock.

"Hey, Brock, don't you think that that pile of Pokéballs look extremely suspicious," Mason commented in a low voice, "it's well above the carry limit for a regular trainer."

Catching his tone Brock couldn't help but give a small smirk, "you're right, very suspicious" he said as he rose from the table as well, catching onto just what Mason was up to. The pile of Pokéballs, plus his verbal admission of abandoning Charmander as he had would give them more than enough to bring him to the attention of the relevant authorities.

Both began to make their way over to the group, followed by Ash and Misty, both as equally as angry and disgusted with what they had heard. Walking down to the lower area Mason acts fast.

He grabs Damian by his arm and pulls him from his seat getting a surprised yelp from the boy, but before he can react Mason spins him around and slams him against the table twisting his arm and pushing it up to the middle of his back.

"OW, what's the big idea!" Damian yelled outraged at the sudden attack and tried to reach for his Pokéballs on the table with his other arm. But he found them pulled out of reach as Brock moved to do his part as he scooped the Pokéballs up and into his arms.

"Hey!", "What do you think you're doing!", "let him go!" Damian's buddies all went to try and help, reaching for their own Pokéballs but suddenly found themselves out cold and on the ground, as Scyther blurred from where it had been and appeared behind them, its blades extended but in reverse showing it had knocked each of them out with the backs of its arms.

"Wa-What!" Damian said in shock at everything that was happening but winced as he felt his arm get pushed up higher on his back as Mason knelt over him.

"So, you're the shit who thinks it's some kind of joke to abandon their Pokémon and leave them starving, exhausted and in no condition to defend themselves," Mason growled as he squeezed Damian's wrist harder.

"You should be ashamed of yourself," Misty added glaring at Damian with hate-filled eyes.

"You could have killed it," Ash added clenching his own fists wanting to punch the prick.

"Yeah so what if I did, it's my Pokémon, I can do what I like with.." Damian went to reply only for another squeeze and push of his wrist to cut him off and make him hiss in pain.

"You're scum, no one like you should ever be allowed to become a Pokémon trainer," Mason growled, restraining himself from pushing up any more on Damian's arm if he did he'd be likely to dislocate or break the joint.

"What's going on here?" Nurse Joy said as she came out hearing the ruckus but paused when she saw the scene and who Mason was restraining, "oh it's him" she said before frowning, "I just finished with Charmander's treatment and scan, and I've called Officer Jenny to report this case of clear Pokémon abuse, but it seems you've saved her the trouble of hunting this one down"

"What'd ya mean hunting me down?" Damien asked but he was ignored as Nurse Joy turned and gestured to the hallway.

"Could you please bring him this way, we can keep him in one of the back rooms until I've had time to call Officer Jenny back and tell him that we have him here," Nurse Joy explained, "You'll all have to stay as well, she'll no doubt want to speak with each of you about how you all found Charmander"

Mason nodded and pulled Damian to his feet none too gently and began to push him up the steps towards the back room.

"Nurse Joy," Brock said getting her attention, "Damian also had these seventeen Pokéballs on him, could you please check them over, we overheard Damien talking about how he abandoned Charmander, and if he treated Charmander poorly he can only have done the same or worse with his other Pokémon"

Nurse Joy nodded, "of course I'll get started on them right away," she said before looking to the unconscious forms of Damian's friends, "you can put them into a room as well, and confiscate their Pokémon, I'll look at all of them as well, if they are like Damian then they will have to be dealt with by Officer Jenny as well"

"We'll help," A voice said and Mason looked over to see other trainers that were in the centre step forward, "we heard all of it, scum like that give Pokémon trainers a bad name", "Damian and his lot are nothing but trouble" they voiced.

Mason smirked and pushed Damian forward again, "this just is not your day is it ass wipe" he muttered to the cussing trainer. Pushing him through the doors face-first Damien cursed.

"So bloody what!" Damien yelled as Mason manhandled him down the corridor, "The thing was pathetic, ow, a weakling, I didn't do anything wrong, so what if I wasn't going to go back for it, it's it's own fault for being stupid enough to believe me"

"And the abuse, Nurse Joy read all of the Injuries your treatment of Charmander caused, it's lucky to even still be alive because of you," Damien growled as they got to a room.

"Training, I train my Pokémon hard, they know if they want food they have to earn it, the strong eat and the weak don't plain and simple" Damian smirked only to get shoved face first through a door and tossed onto the ground, he turned but froze seeing Mason glaring down at him. If looks could kill then Damian would be dead ten times over from the glare that Mason gave him.

"You're lucky that Nurse Joy has already called Officer Jenny, otherwise…" Mason said as he glared at Damian, "I'd be tempted to let you go… just so I could hunt you down myself… and _**end**_ you" he spat before closing the door as he stepped out closing it and locking it as he did so.

Mason stood outside the door for several seconds breathing deeply to try and control himself, he was beyond furious, he had hated animal abusers back in his last life, and now in this world Pokémon abusers…. It just made him sick.

Getting himself under control Mason looked down the corridor towards the room that he knew Charmander was in, he felt himself pause as he saw the flicker of Charmanders tail go back into the room before the door closed behind it. Mason's shoulders slumped as he sighed, he could guess what had happened, Charmander had heard Damian's confession about internally leaving it out there to die.

Well, he guessed that Charmander would never have accepted another trainer if he was still loyal to Damian, this just shattered that loyalty. It had to happen one way or another.

* * *

**Time skip**

With the help of the other trainers at the centre all of Damian's buddies were piled onto the beds in one of the guest rooms to away Officer Jenny's arrival, which didn't take long even with the storm outside, and needless to say, she did not arrive happily.

As the doors to the centre opened Jenny walked in shaking her head, her plastic overcoat dripping from the storm outside, even with the hood her hair was a mess and she had a scowl on her face that Mason guessed was two parts due to why she was there, and one part due to being called out in the middle of the storm and in the middle of the night.

"Alright no one move, I'm tired, soaking wet and pissed off," Officer Jenny growled, "someone point me to where Nurse Joy is"

All trainers in the room, Mason included, pointed towards the doors leading to the office space behind the front desk. All of them wisely not wanting to further annoy the clearly pissed off officer.

Officer Jenny grumbled before pulling off her plastic overcoat and throwing it onto one of the coat racks before making her way to the office area. She was only gone for about a minute before every trainer flinched as they heard her yell "WHAT!"

The next second the door to the office area opened and Jenny stepped out, "Whichever one of you is Mason, get yourself in here!"

Mason couldn't help but swallow a little bit intimidated by the clearly furious woman but none the less got up from his seat and made his way into the back office area to find Nurse Joy sitting behind a large oak table with several files laid out on it.

Jenny shut the door before walking over to the table, "Am I to understand that you and your friends are the ones to have found that poor Charmander abandoned on your way here"

Mason nodded, "Yes Ma'am" he responded, keeping his answers short and to the point unless asked otherwise not wanting to waste any time.

Jenny nodded, "you did a good job getting it here as fast as you did," She commended him as she sat down in a chair next to Nurse Joy, "I need you to walk me through everything that happened from when you and your friends found Charmander, and anything else you can think of that might help in prosecuting these criminals," she said as she took out an offered notepad and pencil from Nurse Joy so she could take notes.

Mason nodded and took a seat on the opposite side of the table and began to recount all that had happened from when they had found Charmander, leaving nothing out and making sure to mention how he and the others had clearly heard Damian explain how he had intentionally abandoned Charmander out there in the forest knowing full well what state it was in, and also how Damian had commented on his treatment of his Pokémon.

A couple of times during his recounting Jenny looked as though she was angry enough to snap the pencil she was using with how hard she was gripping it, clearly, she was as disgusted with Damian as he was.

Nurse Joy wasn't faring much better as a few crumpled pages showed when her own anger and disgust had gotten the better of her several times through the recounting.

Finally when he was done Jenny put down her pencil and scowled, "I hate cases like these, they don't come around often but when they do they are always hard," she said with a frown, "but thanks to you this one is going to be relatively quick to deal with, and with all the evidence that Nurse Joy has gathered together from his Pokémon's health reports I'm going to be able to levy multiple charges against him"

"So it wasn't just Charmander then?" Mason asked, guessing the outcome of what Nurse Joy had found.

Nurse Joy sighed, "All of them, all of Damian's Pokémon show similar signs of abuse by him, signs of malnutrition and training beyond reasonable limits, none as extensive or as recent as Charmander but the evidence is clear when they are scanned, it's disgusting to think that he could do this and could have continued to do this"

"Well he won't be after this," Jenny assured her and Mason, "right now we have him solid on eighteen counts of Pokémon abuse, and he was caught red-handed carrying three times over the legal carry limit for a Pokémon trainer of his status. I'm going to be doing a deep dive into his records once I get him back to the station to see if he has any other Pokémon on record, released or otherwise. There is no way that he'll be keeping his trainer licence after this, the league has a harsh tolerance policy on Pokémon abuse and even if they didn't with this many counts against him he's already looking at jail time and a lot of it"

Mason couldn't help but smile at that, that was more like it, finally some actual results, "that's good, but what will happen to his Pokémon, and what about those friends of his? Were they abusing their Pokémon like Damian?" he asked

Nurse Joy shook her head, "no they weren't, a couple of them looked to have been trained a bit harder than they needed to be but other than that they are in good health"

"I'll be calling in for backup to help transport them all to the station," Jenny explained, "the friends will all be given warnings and a notice will be put on their licences so all centres will be keeping a close eye on any of their Pokémon for signs of abuse. As for Damian's Pokémon, once they are treated and cleared as fit enough, standard procedure for things like this is that they are sent to a Pokémon wildlife preserve where Pokémon catching is prohibited by law so they will be safe"

Mason nodded, "I see, I was just curious if adoption was an option, there are several trainers still here who I'm sure would be glad to help in any way they could, myself and my friends included"

Jenny arched an eyebrow at the offer and looked to Nurse Joy who only smiled at her and nodded her opinion. Jenny sighed at that, taking off her cap and scratching the back of her head.

"Well that is an option too I suppose, and it would save me from the paperwork in the long run, and free me up to do a deeper search into these sixes background to see if anything more pops," Jenny said, sounding not opposed to the idea.

"But each trainer would have to be informed that the Pokémon in question will have to stay at this centre until I clear them, and after that, they will be on a strictly regimented diet to help them further recover from their malnutrition" Joy explained after the fact sternly and seriously.

Mason nodded, that wasn't unreasonable, it was expected really given what they had been through and he was sure that any trainer would understand that as he did.

Seeing the nod Nurse Joy smiled and turned the files around and pushed them to him, "these are the Pokémon that previously belonged to Damian, let me know if you want to claim any of them"

Mason nodded and began to flick through the files looking over everything calmly, though the details in some of the files of the past abuse made him want to leave the room and punch Damian repeatedly for them. But he cooled himself down knowing that the bastard was getting what he deserved.

In the end, Mason chose only one of the seventeen other Pokémon that Damian had, his only other fire type, a male Growleth that looked to be the second-worst off after Charmander. While he was tempted to pick more he knew he already had a full team, and he didn't want to seem to be taking advantage of a bad situation.

He was told that Growlithe would have to stay in the centre for at least another week given his status but as soon as he was fit he would be transferred to Professor Oak and added to his roster.

Mason nodded and left happy to have helped. After that one by one, each of the others was called in to give their statements, and at the end of it all, each of the abused Pokémon that had previously belonged to Damian all had new trainers awaiting them when they made recovery.

Misty had chosen to take a female Dewgong, Brock had chosen both a female Rhyhorn and a male Sandslash, and Ash, of course, had asked for Charmander.

All in all, Mason was pleased with how things had turned out, and come the next morning there was not one sign of Damian or his buddies and the gang were able to leave with little problem. Charmander had been given a clean bill of health but Nurse Joy had asked that he be kept out of any battles for a week just to be sure and Brock had been given a list of Charmanders dietary needs for the next several weeks.

Mason had half expected them to fall into the trap hole that team rocket had dug in the middle of the road like in the show, but oddly enough they didn't and Mason shrugged it off as just one other thing he had changed, probably his part in their last blast off launched them farther than originally intended, but he wasn't about to complain, things were good.


End file.
